Parliamentary panel to examine TRP scam, media ethics issues

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology has decided to take up the matters of media ethics, news coverage and the TRP scam issue for discussion next week.This comes after Congress MP and member of the panel Karti Chidambaram requested Shashi Tharoor to take up the issue and call the officials of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry before the committee to seek clarification and remedial measures. Karti Chidambaram had said, "The government's advertising expenditure depends on the TRP system, and public spending should not be based on flawed data."

The Parliamentary committee on IT has asked Broadcasters Association, Press Council of India and Prasar Bharati to depose on 'Ethical Standards in Media Coverage'."Flawed or manipulated TRP cannot be the basis of ad spend. TV companies also base their valuations on TRP. Those valuations are questionable now," Karti further said. It has been notified that the next two sittings of the Committee will be held on October 15 and 16. On Thursday, the Parliamentary panel will be taking up the topic of "ethical standards in media coverage".

Among the issues that will be discussed are "safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space; review of the cybersecurity scenario in India; and a review of the functioning and outreach of Doordarshan channels, among other topics".