News Broadcasters Association demands suspension of Republic TV's IBF membership

New Delhi, January 18: Amid the ongoing controversy over Republic TV and BARC, News Broadcasters Association (NBA) demanded the suspension of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) membership of Republic TV with immediate effect. It should be noted, that IBF represents television broadcasters. The NBA said that it should be suspended till the case related to manipulation of ratings is pending in the court.

 

"NBA Board is also of the view that the manipulation of ratings by Republic TV has immensely damaged the reputation of the broadcast industry and therefore it should be kept out of BARC rating system till final court order," the NBA said in an official press release. “The manipulation of ratings by Republic TV has immensely damaged the reputation of the broadcast industry and therefore it should be kept out of BARC rating system till final court order,” it said.

 

They also said that they are 'shocked' to see hundreds of WhatsApp messages that have been exchanged between BARC India’s former CEO Partho Dasgupta and Republic TV's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami. "These messages establish collusion between the two in manipulating ratings to garner greater viewership numbers for Republic TV month after month by fraudulently manually reducing ratings of other channels to give Republic TV an unfair advantage," said NBA.

 

Further, They also demanded that the ratings of news channels remain suspended till such time all details of such actions taken by BARC are shared with the stakeholders.

 

“NBA demands that IBF membership of Republic TV should be suspended with immediate effect till the case related to manipulation of ratings is pending in the court. NBA Board is also of the view that the manipulation of ratings by Republic TV has immensely damaged the reputation of the broadcast industry and therefore it should be kept out of BARC rating system till final court order,” the statement read.

 

The press release further added that NBA has already conveyed to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) that ratings are unreliable as far as they can see and should continue to be suspended in light of the recent revelations which shows the arbitrary nature of functioning at BARC. NBA said, "It shows that there are no checks and balances and the ability of a few within BRAC to easily change the ratings as they deemed fit, making the system subjective to the whims and fancy of the management versus being objective transparent system."

 

This comes after the Mumbai police released the WhatsApp conversation between Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and TV rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India's former CEO Partho Dasgupta.