Arbitron Settles Ratings Discrimination Lawsuit That Largely Overlooked Blacks And Hispanics

March 28. 2012

This is a follow up to the March 13, 2012 article Hollywood And The Ratings Game Makes One Realize Nielson Figures Are Not An Accurate Reflection Of Viewing Numbers. A week later, radio ratings company, Arbitron, settled a lawsuit that alleged they underreported the viewing choices of blacks and Hispanics in America.

Nielson also needs to come clean regarding their rating procedures. Blacks and Hispanics deserve to be counted. Everyone does. America is a big country and to truly gauge the nation's listening and viewing habits, as many people as possible need to be included. I am convinced, over the years, a number of radio and television shows that were cancelled early, should not have been, as the ratings figures were not accurate.

STORY SOURCE

Arbitron to pay $400,000 in lawsuit over ratings

March 26, 2012, 8:08PM ET - Radio audience ratings company Arbitron Inc. says it is paying $400,000 to settle a case in California in which it was accused of under-representing black and Hispanic listeners in its surveys in the state's largest cities. Lawyers for the state and the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco said Arbitron's "Portable People Meters" system "dramatically" under-recruited from those populations when it began in 2008. Arbitron found participants mainly by calling land-line telephones, a process that tends to under-represent minority populations. The government attorneys said the shortfall of black and Latino participants resulted in a sharp drop in advertising rates and revenue for many radio stations that serve black and Hispanic communities...

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