FOURTH RIGHT: When the TRP machine goes silent
By Pragadish Kirubakaran in Media News on Monday, 09th March 2026 at 3:14pm
Image edited by Dinesh Raj M
For one full month, the volume knob on Indian television news has been turned down -- not by editorial wisdom, but by regulation.
On March 6, 2026, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ordered the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to suspend TV ratings for all news channels for four weeks. The trigger, according to the ministry, was “unwarranted sensationalism and speculative reporting” during coverage of the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. The order invokes Clause 24.2 of the 2014 Television Rating Agency Guidelines, which allows the government to direct rating agencies in exceptional circumstances.
In plain English: the TRP scoreboard has been temporarily switched off.
That matters more than it sounds. In Indian tel...
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