News Broadcasters Federation (NBF), a lobbying body of TV news channels in India, has again written to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India and members of the BARC board to resume news channels’ data, citing new developments that highlight the ratings scam — leading to data suspension— was a political move.“In this context, we herein yet again reiterate that BARC needs to initiate appropriate action to resume the release of TRP data for the news genre with immediate effect, a move that would save the news broadcasting industry, from the brink of collapse,” NBF’s new letter to BARC India CEO Nakul Chopra stated.NBF had written a similar letter about a week back.

The audience data of news channels was suspended sometime in 2020 over allegations of data manipulations (a police case too was filed in Mumbai relating to the developments) and remains so despite several pleas from news channels’ lobbying organisations to resume the ratings as it was hitting the channels’ businesses.

Interestingly the India Government too in February this year had directed Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India to keep the data suspended till a committee, headed by Prasar Bharati CEO, submitted its report on overhauling of BARC India systems. That report was submitted to the government a few months back.

However, in recent times, news TV channels have been vocal in demanding resumption of the data.“We would like to bring to your urgent attention how recent news events that have been widely reported across the media establish beyond doubt that the TRP case was a political concoction,” NBF’s fresh missive to BARC India said.

“The TRP case is nothing but a product of fabrications and fiction, spun on a political instruction, gratifying the selfish interest of few national channels at the cost of huge loss for the entire news broadcasting industry, consisting of more than 400 channels,” NBF said in the strongly worded letter.

NBF also pointed out that it had written to BARC India “regarding these extremely serious and alarming allegations in April 2021, but did not receive a reply on the matter.”

The NBF letter goes on to state: “Release of Television Audience Measurement Data is crucial and critical for news channels that have been performing their duty in the public interest and upholding democracy at large.

“The continued unexplainable suspension in the release of audience measurement data has led to huge financial distress and severe economic loss to the news genre, threatening job losses at a large scale. BARC’s continued silence on the issue of TRP data and the bribe they allegedly paid in the case has further deepened the suspicion of news channels impacted by the suspension of ratings.

“In view of the ongoing crisis, we at NBF, the largest association of News channels, would like to reiterate that there was no legitimate reason or rationale for suspension in ratings for the news genre alone. Given that the recent statements in the case have established beyond doubt that the whole case was hogwash rooted in motivated and malicious political instruction instead of facts.”