Posted by chicagomedia.org on September 29, 2008 at 22:20:15:
Presidential candidate Barack Obama and Dick Durbin, both Democratic senators from Illinois, have sent Arbitron president/CEO Steve Morris a letter expressing their concerns over the company's plans to continue rolling out PPM without Media Research Council accreditation and have requested that implementation be delayed until the MRC gives it the thumbs-up. While the duo acknowledge that a "properly implemented PPM system is more accurate" than Arbitron's diary, Obama and Durbin say that the lack of MRC accreditation leads them to "only conclude that it does not accurately reflect the behavior of all consumers, including minorities."
Claiming that the implications of a badly executed PPM system are "too serious to ignore," the senators have requested that Arbitron push back its planned rollout of PPM in eight markets -- including Chicago -- that was slated for next Wednesday, Oct. 8. Echoing the concerns already put out by the chairmen of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees regarding the potential harm to minority broadcasters under the current PPM strategy, Obama and Durbin urge Arbitron to get the MRC's stamp of approval before moving forward with PPM rollout.
While the MRC's Voluntary Code of Conduct isn't mandatory, it does recommend that ratings companies get their new methods certified before discontinuing their previous systems, which Arbitron has failed to do. "A voluntary code of conduct is worth only as much as the pledge of those to abide by it," the senators wrote. "We urge you to do so for the good of the market's and the public's faith in the data you produce."
(r&r)