TV watchdog launches new rating inspections

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Davut Dursun says the new rating measurement system should be trustworthy. AA photo

A new draft of regulations for Turkey’s TV rating system, which said the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) will introduce a strict inspection mechanism, has been presented by RTÜK head Davut Dursun.

Dursun said the new mechanism will be based on four steps. The committee that will measure the ratings will be a legal entity, Dursun said, adding that publishers and broadcasters will take a much more active role in the measurement committee than before.

The new rating system will introduce rating mechanisms into towns with populations of over 5,000, Dursun said. The previous minimum population number was 20,000.

There will be more than one mechanism to inspect rating measurements, Dursun said.

“First there will be an internal inspector firm which conforms to international standards. Second an independent institution will check the outcomes from that firm. Third RTÜK will inspect them all,” Dursun said.

Dursun said RTÜK would rather to stay out of the issue, but that Parliament had changed its instructions on the subject, which gave them regulation and supervision duties.

“Our good will should not be abused,” Dursun said.

“It is a milestone for RTÜK to take part in the rating measurement system. I cannot say that this development will solve the problems because consensus among the actors is a must here. The new model we are talking about needs to be trustworthy. RTÜK is a new actor and now this institution will have a right to inspect and fine whenever it wants,” Professor Ali Atıf Bir, head of the advertising department at Bahçeşehir University told the Hürriyet Daily News April 27.

In December 2011, the Istanbul Üsküdar Prosecutor’s office launched a case against television rating agencies, finding that production companies had paid respondents to vote in favor of the television programs of their choice. The police raided AGB and several other production companies at the time.