• by June 16, 2004

ON THE ALTAR OF THE MRC - Stately, stumped George Ivie came from the stairhead, bearing reams of data on which a PC with spreadsheets lay crossed. A yellow legal pad, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him by the mild morning air. He held the data aloft and intoned: Introibo ad altare MRC.

In an area of the ad business where little sometimes seems holy, the Media Rating Council historically has stood for something that should be revered, if not worshiped. But events of the past few weeks threaten to make a mockery of something that was supposed to be sacrosanct, or at least respected by all parties involved. It was bad enough that the local people meter opponents defied an MRC commandment: Thou shall not run advertising that can jigger TV ratings. It was even worse when those very same forces turned around and ran a series of TV ads citing the MRC's own findings as the subject of those ads. Now, mere weeks after that blasphemy, some anonymous sources have created an even greater sacrilege and released the findings of a confidential MRC audit, threatening to undermine the heart of an MRC process that relies on, well, confidentiality. It would be like going to a confessional, speaking to a priest, knowing there would be a good chance that he'd leak it to the media.

Don't get us wrong; we'd like nothing better than to have the MRC make its findings far more public. It would make it a hell of a lot easier for the Riff's colleagues to report on these proceedings. But we respect the process and the notion that if sensitive information was going to be made so public, sensitive parties might not fork it over. And then where would we be? Quite possibly, exactly where these LPM opponents want us to be: in complete and utter ratings anarchy, with no industry oversight of the process. Or even worse, with government bureaucrats serendipitously influencing the process based on the whims of the latest administration's agenda, swayed by the loudest voices of the most influential public interest group or lobbyist. As the Riff has suggested before, it may be the race card today, but it could well be a jostle over any other interest group claiming to be underrepresented in the future.

The MRC was created to be above that fray, but somehow has gotten sucked into the process and doesn't seem able to extricate itself. It's not just the indignities, but also the real possibility that if things continue, the MRC could quite possibly lose its credibility. It's already lost a little bit of faith.

What's needed now, is for the group to take some action that reinstates our confidence. If it can do that, it would give us all a reason to rejoice. Or in the spirit of this day, simply re. Joyce.