[throwawayjava]

I think this just strengthens the case against ratings-oriented broadcasting decisions (side-note: broadcasting, by its very definition and due to the scarcity of spectrum, necessarily requires making decisions for others. The only question is whether ratings are the best way to determine what people really want!)

Our office has someone in charge of food. That person used to pay attention to what people would/would not eat and then purchase accordingly. LOTS of pizza/brownies, not a lot of salads. We (unanimously!) asked that person to just ignore our gluttonous choices and gather explicit preferences. We now eat more healthily. Of course, our preferences did not change -- we'd all totally opt for the pizza and brownie over the salad. But the choice is easier to make on a ballot than when both options are in front of you and you're salivating... needless to say, the person who just does what we explicitly ask them to isn't manipulating us into eating more healthy food.

Similarly, pure ratings-driven programming in an ad-driven business model almost necessarily means setting up others' lives (building viewing habits) to achieve what you want (selling ads)!

So, de-emphasizing ratings is NOT equivalent to manipulation! And emphasizing ratings can sometimes be in service to a manipulation!