News Broadcasting
NDTV issued show-cause notice on live coverage of Pathankot terrorist attack
NEW DELHI: News broadcaster NDTV has been issued a show cause notice for its live coverage of the security forces’ operations at Pathankot to flush out terrorists who were engaged in an encounter.
Stating this in the Parliament, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said that the notice had been issued under Rule 6(1)(p) of the Cable Television Network Rules 1994.
He said the Ministry had brought out amendments on 23 March last year in Rule 6 of the Rules to prohibit live coverage of operation by security forces. Rule 6 of Programme Code was amended by inserting a clause (p) under sub rule (1) whereby no programme should be carried in the cable service, which ‘contains live coverage of any anti-terrorist operation by security forces, wherein media coverage shall be restricted to periodic briefing by an officer designated by the appropriate Government, till such operation concludes.’
Answering a question, he said in order to implement the Rules, the Home Ministry has issued Advisories to the States whereby the DGP of the State concerned has been designated as appropriate authority for specifying an operation and the spokesperson of the State Police has been made the designated officer for the purpose of briefing the media during the anti-terrorist operations.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
