• June 21, 2004

The Media Rating Council Friday said it plans to 'vigorously investigate" the release of a confidential MRC audit of Nielsen's local people meter system to the Los Angeles Times and threatened to "take appropriate and strong disciplinary action, including possible expulsion from the MRC, against any member company found to violate the trust of the organization." The council said the public release of such information "threatens the accreditation process and undermines the ability of the MRC to" obtain information from ratings services for audits. Despite the fact that it continues to withhold accreditation for Nielsen's local people meter service in New York, the MRC added that it "believes that a people meter service can represent an improvement in existing local audience measurement."