Ratings fraud: A dangerous game on TV

Ching recently, the "People's Daily" published a continuous report, exposing individual local satellite TV "buy" sample families, "manipulate" ratings, the production of false data, the bad behavior in the country caused a stir.　　All over the media actively follow up, so there are more ugly is gradually exposed. In fact, the crisis of confidence in ratings has not started today. In recent years, as ratings have become more and more dominant, the questioning of the authenticity of ratings has never been interrupted.　　I dare not say that all doubts are based on facts, but they are not groundless. Ratings can not be regarded as bad, it is the TV station and TV program producers understand the audience response is an important window, is the audience standard in the television program production link is a sign of attention. We had a time when there was no need for ratings, because at that time, leadership recognition was more important than audience recognition. The marketization of TV programs makes the audience an indispensable force of checks and balances. This should be an improvement.　　If there is no audience ratings, TV producers can only through hearsay to understand the audience's response to the program, that situation and elephant no difference, it is difficult to truly meet the needs of the general audience. However, as the ratings become the de facto "tyrant", the TV station only ratings lead, all the ratings for the choice of standards, the progress of the ratings in the blind Worship day by day is hollowed out. Especially when it is created by unscrupulous means by some mercenary people, it cannot really reflect the choice of the audience, but only the tool of the merchant for profit. Who cares more about ratings? Only TV stations, advertising companies and advertisers, the chain of interests tied them together.　　In any case, there is no audience in this chain, the audience is just a group of hijacked by the television station hostage, used to coerce advertisers, bargaining chips with them. Over the years, we have always had a myth of the ratings of the trend, we put the function of the ratings inappropriately magnified, to conceal or ignore many of its shortcomings and deficiencies. In fact, as an evaluation standard, the audience ratings reflect only a choice of television programs, not evaluation, but also lack of direct feelings of the audience. From the ratings, it is difficult to know what the audience after watching the show what is the response, like or not like? Is it admiration or disgust? Nothing, only the signal you send when you choose this program.　　I do not deny that choice is also an evaluation, but this evaluation is obviously simple and elementary, and therefore its role is limited. Now, when this limited function is also facing a crisis of trust, I think the ratings of the road has gone to the end, and may even endanger its interests in the chain of advertising companies and advertisers. People will look at this strange monster with strange eyes. For the TV station, there may be only two way out, one is to develop new evaluation system and means; the other is to restore public confidence in ratings and put it in the right place. Of course, this is not easy to do.