HT rubbishes ET's report on IRS

A report published in all publications of the HT stable calls ET's report factually incorrect, hinting that it is an attempt to influence the ongoing validation process of IRS 2013 data

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | June 16, 2014

A day after The Economic Times put out a report casting aspersion on the readership of HT Media group publications, Hindustan Times came out with a strong response on June 14, 2014 with its front-page article titled 'TOI cannot digest readers' message, shoots messenger'. The article rubbished the accusations put by ET and suggested that the ET article was ill-intentioned.

In response to ET's claim of high RPC (readers per copy) for HT Media group publications, HT wrote: “The ET story on Friday also claims that HT's Readership Per Copy (RPC) is abnormally high. A careful study of figures reveals that ET has picked readership figures from one period, and circulation figures from another — which has thrown up distorted results. HT's RPCs are lower than that claimed by the story.”

It may be recalled that after many objections from various newspapers citing anomalies in readership data, RSCI held the IRS findings in abeyance, and decided to go through a process of 'revalidation' of the design and execution of the study. A third party audit is currently underway.

Suggesting that the timing of the ET story was perhaps to influence the validation process, HT quoted Hormusji N Cama, RSCI Chairman, as saying: “No one and no report can influence this process. It is unfortunate that groups like Times of India and Dainik Jagaran have taken this attitude.”

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