DAB lobby tries to manipulate political opinion
A recent study commissioned by,the Media Authority (Medietilsynet) claims that the majority of the population is satisfied with radio in Norway. There is no government assignment that forms the basis of this study, but it seems to be an informally ordered survey carried out in collaboration with NRK, the P4 group (NENT) and Bauer Media. The telephone survey covers 1,000 people, thus claimed to represent a population of 5 million. The survey is published just in time for an upcoming proposal about the future for local radio on FM. (Pic: VG Oslo)
TNS Kantar is the supplier of the survey. There is little or no information about the survey data or how the questions are asked. That is, the scientific method used to get the numbers in this "digital radiographic survey".
A government agency should be cautious about using numbers obtained from such questionable surveys. The Media Authority's lack of transparency and, not least, the honesty of issues relating to radio become a major democratic problem, writes the Norwegian Radio Listeners Association (NRLF) in an article.
Read more (in Norwegian)
Comment
Statistics Norway recently published the Media Barometer 2018, based on a considerably larger survey population, which pointed to a significantly reduced radio listening in Norway. It is noteworthy that the Media Authority, instead of highlighting a serious government report from Statistics Norway, publishes the result of questionable commercial product. The authority has also managed to distrbute a press release via NTB, the news agency, unreflected and uncritically handled by many newspapers. The journalistic review task has been set aside.
The Media Authority will next week submit its proposal to the Ministry of Culture if local radio should by allowed to continue broadcasting on FM after 2021. The DAB lobby pressure on the authority and politicians in the parliament (Stortinget) is not unexpectedly very tough right now. If FM remains in Norway, there is an increasing risk that the world-unique FM switch-off and the DAB project will fall flat.
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