Can the burgeoning TV viewer polls really be trusted?
By Antariksawan Jusuf
JAKARTA (JP): Gone are the days when Indonesian television viewers passively sat on the couch watching every program unilaterally broadcast into their homes by each station. Until a few years ago, there was no direct dialog between stations and viewers. The only initiative viewers could take was through clicking the buttons on their remote controls.
The situation has changed dramatically with increasing interaction between viewers and stations. Interactive programs allow the audience to choose favorite programs or give their opinion on an issue.
The latest trend is television polling, inviting viewers to participate to determine the direction of programs or some of their aspects.
Private TV station TPI has a live weekly children's variety program, Kring Olala Yes, in which viewers can decide the winner of the dance contest from the comfort of their homes. Indosiar invites boxing fans to decide their favorite live bout.
Polling is also offered for serious themes. RCTI conducts real- time interactive polling for its Aneka Dialog (Various Dialogs) every Monday night. Graphics show results of viewer response to particular issues during the one-hour live discussion. Aldrin Noer, who's in charge of handling the poll, said an average of more than 1,000 viewers call in during the one-hour program.
SCTV holds polling for interesting issues, mostly political, aired on its news broadcast Liputan 6. Using a premium call service which charge the caller, the station compiles results of the weekly poll.
TPI has Dialog Partai Partai (Dialog about Political Parties) which polls viewers on whether they think a party should continue after unveiling its platform. TPI spokeswoman Theresia Ellasari said about 2,000 callers participated in the weekly poll.
TV polls are flourishing, but some industry insiders argue that popularity is not a stamp of accuracy.
Harsiwi, a researcher at a commercial television station said results of television polling were misleading.
"The validity is questionable because it does not represent anything," she said.
"It can be used as a political means to form public opinion."
She added that TV polling held the lowest validity among other structured research data of telephone surveys, face-to-face interviews, mall questioning or mail-in questionnaires.
TV stations cannot control who elects to respond. Other limitations are that polling only covers people with access to a telephone and TV set, those watching the program at a particular time and who are interested in the issue.
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Respondents must also be willing to pay the extra fee of a premium phone call, higher than normal telephone rates.
"Therefore, don't trust TV polls," Harsiwi concluded.
Riza Primadi, SCTV director for the private station's news department and public relations, admitted that polls were not representative.
"We would like to show that on certain issues there are a number of people saying such and such."
Interactive television was first introduced to viewers in 1996.
Indosiar aired a local television series with an open ending named Terserah Anda (Up To You). As the name suggests, viewers called into the station to vote on either of two opposite endings of each story.
SCTV in 1997 introduced Pilih-Pilih Film (Choose Your Movie) in which three movie titles were offered to viewers to select for broadcast every Saturday night.
SCTV and Indosiar in 1996 respectively aired interactive games Telelaga and Jitu. Viewers could participate in the games of star wars by pressing numbers on the phone to direct the space or shoot on the television monitor.
They were short-lived. Under pressure from the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), the two stations dropped the games because they were considered as having elements of gambling.