Ever since the Mumbai Police Commissioner took a press conference and announced that his department was investigating allegations against a few news channels of “fixing” television viewership ratings, a virtual war of words has erupted. While the matter is currently being probed, the manner in which the Congress has jumped into it clearly appears to be an attempt of deflecting from the real issues at hand by the MVA-led Maharashtra government. With this, the consistent failure in handling all the issues in the state by the state government is evident. The pattern of operations of the Congress, if analysed, makes one thing clear: The party is ready with all sorts of excuses when it comes to justifying its defeat. In the past six years, a constant complaint of the party, wherever it has had to bite the dust, was about EVMs malfunctioning.
Now, by targeting certain media houses with the help of the Mumbai Police chief, the MVA is perhaps trying to establish another strategy of the blame game. One is not quite impressed by the manner in which the Mumbai Police chief has handled the issue so far, showing excessive interest in the case. He has given several interviews to different media channels, post the press conference. The Mumbai Police chief, on Thursday, accused three channels of “rigging” television rating points (TRPs) to attract advertisers by paying viewers to keep their channels on for long periods, even when no one was at home.
As far as TRPs are concerned, guided by the recommendations of the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) and MIB notifications of January 2014, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), an industry body, was set up to design, commission, supervise and own an accurate, reliable and timely television audience measurement system for India, by which the TRPs are measured. The TRP claims made by all the TV channels are the result of the analysis report made by the BARC. The TRPs are important because higher the TRPs, higher the ad revenue for the channel. The Mumbai Commissioner of Police has accused the three channels of fixing these TRPs and also highlighted an FIR to support his claims. However, a powerful person like the Mumbai Commissioner of Police taking a press conference himself on such an issue is unheard of.
There have been several cases of window dressing and wrongdoing, like the Satyam Computer Services scandal wherein promoters of the company were ultimately sent to jail. Was there any such press conference then? If any news channels have done something wrong, they must be punished. Is there not a set process of inquiry? The Mumbai Commissioner of Police have been at loggerheads with a section of the media ever since the role of the police was questioned over the Palghar lynching case. This was followed by the Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case, in which the role of the Mumbai Police was again criticised by many. If analysed closely, it would appear that the ongoing TRP case is nothing but an attempt at deviating from real issues facing the Maharashtra government. In the process, the fourth pillar of democracy is being attacked. No one is saying that the TRP case should not be investigated.
In fact, it should be thoroughly probed and if there is any wrongdoing, it should be exposed and the guilty must be punished. But the manner in which the case is being handled raises eyebrows: Is it an attempt to get back at a section of the media for raising the Palghar lynching issue? Is it for questioning the role of the police in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case? According to a commonly used phrase, the “truth shall prevail”. However, it will be interesting to see in which direction justice prevails. Having said so, one thing is crystal clear: The voters in this nation have become mature and no agenda-driven issues can be nurtured with the help of vested elements.
Therefore, the MVA government’s intent of creating a diversion from the real issues shall stand exposed and eventually fail in the eyes of the public, for sure. It’s high time that the state government gets its priorities right and focuses on the real issues affecting and impacting the people. The Covid-19 pandemic is still not over; Maharashtra is still leading other states in the number of daily coronavirus cases. The death tolls are rising. Also, the situation of the basic civic amenities in the state gets exposed every time there’s a rain in Mumbai. It’s time the MVA government gets its act together and focuses on real issues. As for the TRP issue, it should be professionally probed, and any wrongdoing must be exposed and the guilty duly punished.
The writer is Media Head, BJP Maharashtra. The views expressed are personal.