TV Ratings Worry Minorities

Nielsen said yesterday that it would delay the New York, Chicago and Los Angeles launches of the new system until June 3 and set up a task force to work with opponents to explain the device's technology and sampling methodology, though it would alter neither. News Corp. also owns UPN affiliates in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Minneapolis, Orlando, Phoenix and Washington (WDCA-20), part of its 35-station Fox and UPN group.

Nielsen introduced the local people meters in Boston in 2002 and plans to roll them out in the nation's 10 largest cities by 2006. Initial ratings differences between paper diaries and people meters in Boston closed over time.

Loftus said News Corp. has opposed the devices for some time.

"They told us they were going to come after us in Washington and they were going to discredit us unless we totally shut it down," Loftus said, describing meetings between Nielsen and Lachlan Murdoch, son of News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch and chairman of the company's television group. "And they did."

Regan declined to comment on Loftus's assertion.

News Corp. was joined in opposition by more than 40 members of Congress and a newly formed group, "Don't Count Us Out," which includes New York City and state black and Hispanic lawmakers and advocacy groups, such as the NAACP, the Hispanic Federation, the National Hispanic Media Coalition and 100 Black Men of New York.

"We are glad to see Nielsen respond to community concerns regarding the accuracy of their new system," said Lorraine A. Cortés-Vázquez, Hispanic Federation president.

The opposition group's Web site, www.dontcountusout.org, was registered by Grassroots Enterprise, a nonprofit group run by Mike McCurry, who was White House press secretary in the Clinton administration.

The group has taken out ads in newspapers, including The Washington Post, created by the Glover Park Group, the Washington advertising and political strategy firm largely staffed by members of the Clinton White House, including Joe Lockhart, another former press secretary, and Michael Feldman, who was a senior adviser to Al Gore.

Undercounting minorities has been a problem in the past. Both Nielsen and Arbitron Inc., which determines radio listenership, have had difficulty persuading blacks, Hispanics and young men -- of any ethnicity -- to take part in their surveys.

To encourage their participation, people in those demographic groups are paid more than white listeners and older viewers to participate in Arbitron and Nielsen ratings surveys. Further, Arbitron and Nielsen "oversample" within minority groups -- recruit more potential participants than within white and older viewer groups -- to ensure sufficient sample size.

Arbitron, which also relies on paper diaries, is testing what it calls a "personal people meter" worn by participants that records what radio shows they listen to. In Philadelphia tests, the meters have shown that people listened to about the same amount of radio as they wrote in their diaries. However, where their diaries reported they listened most frequently to an average of three stations per week, the meters reported that number of stations was six.

Viacom Inc., which owns the UPN network and could lose advertising revenue if the ratings of shows on its network drop, also has concerns with the new Nielsen devices, but does not believe the problem is undercounting minorities, said David F. Poltrack, vice president for research and planning at UPN and CBS, which is also owned by Viacom. "We can't find anything to explain it at this time," Poltrack said, referring to the ratings discrepancy between the paper diaries and the people meters. Poltrack acknowledged that the meters may be more accurate and the affected shows may simply be unpopular.

"It certainly is possible," he said.

At a New York news conference called yesterday by Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), who opposes the devices, Nielsen chief executive Susan D. Whiting defended the people meters but said the "widespread concern" about their use led the company to push back the New York rollout.

"The task force will review the people meter technology, the methodology used to measure usage, the recruitment of Nielsen families of color and other issues related to our participation in determining local television ratings," Rangel said in a prepared statement.