TV9 Network walks out of NBDA again, accuses the industry body of delaying news ratings

TV9 Network has once again walked out of News Broadcasters and Digital Association.

The network had returned to NBDA just two days before the TRP scam but the relationship between the two remained sour. In February 2021, TV9 had hit out at NBA over suspension of news ratings.

On the other hand, TV9 continued to be actively associated with the News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) led by Arnab Goswami, making the recent exit from NBDA just a matter of time.

In an open letter addressed to the NBDA Board, TV9 Network CEO, Barun Das, expressed his dismay over attempts, yet again, by NBDA to raise doubts over BARC data while aiming to further delay the data release for the news genre, as per a press release issued by the news network.

The NBDA issued a press release yesterday demanding that “before releasing the ratings make systems more transparent, robust and reliable without any manual intervention.”

Das, in his letter to NBDA, said, “We, TV9 network, a full member of NBDA, do not subscribe to this view of NBDA Board. This seems to be a viewpoint of select members of NBDA and certainly not that of entire NBDA.”

The NBDA press release was issued after the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) ministry announced its decision to immediately resume news ratings.

The ministry’s decision came at the back of sustained efforts of several news channels, working with various stakeholders - after suffering revenue and credibility loss for more than one year.

Putting his decision to withdraw from NBDA in context, Das said, “I am not sure whether NBDA actually wants the ratings to resume at all. The latest NBDA communication only makes a bad situation for the News Industry worse.”

Arguing in favour of his immediate withdrawal, Das said, "I have been trying to reason with NBDA repeatedly but to no avail. On the contrary, NBDA has been expressing views in public, on the most critical issue pertaining to the news genre, which I am in complete disagreement with. Therefore, I am left with no option but to withdraw from NBDA with immediate effect.”

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