The News Broadcasters and Digital Association on Thursday said it "stands vindicated" a day after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting asked Indian broadcasters' body BARC to release news ratings with immediate effect after the council said it has taken initiatives to revise its protocols and mechanisms.

The ministry's order had come after over a year of suspension of television news ratings following the controversy surrounding the alleged TRP (television rating points) scam which came to the fore in October 2020.

In a statement on Thursday, NBDA welcomed the fact that the ministry "recognises the need for improvement, acknowledges the deficiencies, the need to urgently increase sample size and systemic corrections".

NBDA also said in the statement that it "appreciates the reforms that are being undertaken to make the processes, protocols and oversight mechanism at BARC India more robust".

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Govt asks BARC to release news ratings with immediate effect

"It is heartening that the ministry acknowledged that the ratings system for TV news had deficiencies and took note of the suggestions made by NBDA. The reconstitution of the BARC Board and the Technical Committee to allow for the induction of independent members, along with the setting up of a permanent oversight committee, are all steps in the right direction," the statement read.

NBDA added in the statement that it looks forward to working with the Joint Working Group under the Chairmanship of Prasar Bharti CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati, set up to study "the potential for leveraging Return Path Data (RPD) from set top boxes".

"NBDA hopes that this will ensure that the data collected for viewership measurement is more authentic and real time," the statement further said.

The association added that there is still room for more transparent, robust and reliable systems. "BARC should also evaluate ways to enhance data security and ensure that there is no manual intervention at any step in the ratings process," the association said, adding, "We hope before any ratings are released, these measures are in place."

(Edited by : Vijay Anand)