DD, AIR most trusted media as they are not in TRP race: Prasar Bharati CEO

Prasar Bharati CEO Mayank Agrawal on Wednesday asserted that Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR) are the most credible media in the country as their focus is on contributing to the country's progress and not on securing high viewership rating.

He cited a recent report of the Reuters Institute to back his claim and attributed the DD and the AIR’s success in remaining the number one choice of people to their “impartiality, style of functioning, and dedicated workforce”.

Agrawal, who is the DD’s director general also, was addressing an event organised by the Association of Akashvani and Doordarshan Engineering Employees.

Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan and Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan along with other dignitaries attended the event.

“We are the voice of the country. Wherever we reach, nobody else is able to. We are compared with the private channels but when we go before people and when it comes to credibility, we are always kept at the number one position,” the Prasar Bharati CEO said.

“We are not in the race of the TRP. We are in the race of taking the country forward,” he stressed.

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati runs both Doordarshan and All India Radio.

Agrawal said that the DD has “gone down a bit” but it will once again progress and regain its position with steps being taken in this connection.

“In the past 3-4 months, many things have happened here. And I feel that Doordarshan, which had gone down a bit, will once again progress. A programme like Swaraj has been launched…It has been appreciated at the national level,” he said.

“I hope that the journey that has begun will keep on moving forward and Doordarshan and Akashvani will once again attain the heights,” he added.