Report on manipulation by ‘Rajasthan Patrika’ mischievous: MRUC

MRUC has played down a report carried in HT Media’s business daily, ‘Mint’, citing it to be “some mischief at play”. In its report published on Tuesday, ‘Mint’ claimed that “the issue revolves around Rajasthan Patrika Pvt. Ltd, the publisher of Hindi daily ‘Rajasthan Patrika’”.

Earlier, in a press release, MRUC had revealed that the research conducted for IRS 2008 Round 1 in Rajasthan was found to have been manipulated and that it would therefore delay releasing the data by a month. Hansa Research, the agency which undertakes the fieldwork for IRS, reported to MRUC that some publications were trying to influence the results in some markets. MRUC did not name any individual publication as being involved in the manipulations till ‘Mint’ pointed a finger at ‘Rajasthan Patrika’, quoting an MRUC source.

G Krishnan

MRUC chairman G Krishnan, in an email written to ‘Rajasthan Patrika’, said, “I have seen the report in ‘Mint’ and I do believe that some mischief is at play. But please be reassured that no one from MRUC has anything to do with the conjecture printed.”

“We have proactively written to ‘Mint’ and will follow through with them to set the matter right as we appreciate the damage caused to you and to MRUC as well. I will be speaking with the concerned in ‘Mint’ as well. Once again, I would like to reiterate that the intention of MRUC is to be objective in this entire matter and not let users suffer unduly on any count,” he has written.

When agencyfaqs! contacted Arvind Kalia, national head, marketing, ‘Rajasthan Patrika’, he forwarded us the above mail from MRUC.

Meanwhile, ‘Dainik Bhaskar’, the second largest selling newspaper in Rajasthan, has condemned ‘Rajasthan Patrika’ for indulging in data manipulation. “We have read articles in various sections of the media on the delay in the IRS 2008 data. We are surprised at the behaviour of “Rajasthan Patrika’ in having stooped so low to adapt unethical means and ways to influence readership research figures. We strongly condemn this act of ‘Rajasthan Patrika’,” says Bharat Kapadia, executive director, Bhaskar Group.

Earlier, Suresh Nimbalkar, associate vice-president, Hansa Research, revealed that there are multiple levels of back-checks conducted with the respondents to verify the authenticity of the data. One of the levels include back-checking the data after exactly 48 hours. Variations of 1-2 per cent are acceptable, but this time, the variations were found to be more than the normal range. As a result, the field team has been sacked and a new team is being formed to go and collect the data in the region all over again.

Praising MRUC’s vigilance, Kapadia adds, “We are glad that MRUC has taken cognisance of the fact and taken steps to further probe the case and take corrective measures.”

The MRUC board has decided to create a code of conduct which, in the future, will suppress research data from being released in the final report for any publication found guilty of such manipulation.