Chandigarh, February 1
Leading newspapers of the country have strongly condemned the newly published Indian Readership Survey (IRS 2013) and have asked for its immediate withdrawal. Eighteen leading publications, including The Tribune, pointed out that the survey is riddled with glaring anomalies that defy logic and completely ignores circulation which is the very basis of readership. “It grossly contradicts audited circulation figures (ABC) of long standing,” they said in a joint statement.

Apart from The Tribune, the others included India Today, The Times of India, The Hindu, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar and Anandabazar Patrika.

Some of the anomalies highlighted in the statement are:

nThere are wild swings in overall newspaper readership across states. While Punjab has lost a whopping one-third of all its readers in just a year since the last IRS, neighbouring Haryana has grown by 17%.

nEvery major newspaper in Andhra Pradesh, irrespective of language, has de-grown by 30 to 65%.

nThere are similar wild swings at the city level. Mumbai shows a 20.3% growth in overall English readership, while Delhi (a faster-growing city overall on all macro indices) shows a drop of 19.50%.

nHitavada, the leading English newspaper of Nagpur with a certified circulation of over 60,000 doesn’t appear to have a single reader now.

nHindu Business Line has thrice as many readers in Manipur as in Chennai.

“Given these glaring anomalies, we urge our advertisers and media agencies not to rely upon the recently published IRS results in any way,” the statement said. The publications have asked Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI) and Media Research Users Council (MRUC), the IRS conductors, to withdraw the results immediately.