Screaming Nielsen and Count Astroturf [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
"A case study [3] posted on the website of [Washington] DC-based Glover Park Group [4] (GPG) has caused a PR snafu," reports PR Week. The case study describes how GPG (along with Dewey Square Group [5] and Grassroots Enterprise, Inc. [6], as reported earlier on SourceWatch [7]) worked "to combat the rollout of new Nielsen TV viewership technology," on behalf of Rupert Murdoch [8]'s News Corporation [9]. News Corp. is concerned the technology might affect its advertising rates. The PR firms organized a "grassroots coalition [10]" called Don't Count Us Out [11], which claims the technology would undercount communities of color. After discovering GPG's case study, Nielsen Media Research released a statement [12] saying GPG "is admitting for the first time that it created, organized and directed the activities of the Don't Count Us Out organization at the behest of News Corp." A spokesperson for Don't Count Us Out said, "Nielsen is trying to change the topic."