News Broadcasting
State election results: A busy day for news channels
MUMBAI: The year 2014 saw not only the 16th Lok Sabha election, but a number of states undergoing assembly elections as well.
As the year ends, two states – Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand – casted their votes and elected their new governments. The result day i.e. 23 December, was a day of excitement for news channels as most of them started early with predictions. As the day progressed, the counting results were displayed on the screens as media stalwarts analysed the results.
The numbers clearly showed the mark that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had left on these states as the BJP won a number of seats. In Jharkhand, the party has won with almost majority while in J&K, it is the second largest party after PDP. However, the “breaking news” was J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah losing from both Beerwah and Sonawar assembly constituency seats.
The news channels focused on the next step of the political parties especially in J&K as there was no clear winner. The channels got a panel discussing the same as well as senior editors within the channel analysed the winners, the overall results as well as what discussions are going on behind the closed doors of parties on their next move.
The analysis continued till late afternoon; with a little break as BJP’s Amit Shah held a press conference to talk about the party’s performance in the two states. “2014 is the year of BJP,” is what the right-hand man of Modi had to say.
Throughout the day, the channels also gathered as well as took people’s reaction through their digital platforms. Hashtags like #Dec23WithArnab, #NDTVResults were created and promoted on channels as they geared for the big debates to be held at primetime.
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
