News Broadcasting
Self-regulation has to come from within
NEW DELHI: The government should restrict itself to penalising inaccuracies in reportage while allowing the television news industry to regulate itself, senior journalists said here today.
India’s news channels, which had faltered in the Mumbai terror coverage, have worked out stronger internal checks and that seems to be working.
Speaking at the fourth Indian News Television (NT) Summit here today, MCCS editor Shazi Zaman said that the only way to protect the freedom of the media is self-regulation and that has to come from within. “Neither an organisation nor an editor can impose self-regulation; it is something that everyone has to practice.”
Commercial considerations, however, have forced news channels to have a high-quotient of entertainment and trivial content.
“In primetime, news channels have an equal proportion of entertainment and political content. Sports takes up 15 per cent of the primetime space, while issues related to agriculture and development stories get less than a five per cent share,” said CMS director PN Vasanti, who was moderating the session on “Making an Impression”.
Even staying objective is an arduous task. TV Today Network news director QW Naqvi quoted examples of how all the news channels aired stories on “Delhi getting drowned with floods” which was far beyond the scope of objectivity.
Naqvi said that with the mushrooming of news channels, quality has taken a hit.
“With the increase in quantity, the quality has gone down,” he rued.
NewsX co-promoter and Editor-in-Chief Jehangir S Pocha, however, disagreed. “The Indian media industry needs enough media so that viewers have options and there is no cartelisation. What is needed on the other hand, is stringent laws that can penalise those who disseminate inaccurate information.”
CNN IBN managing editor Vinay Tewari emphasized on the need to rigorously train the new crop of reporters and journalists.
The time has arrived for the industry to go back to the basics. “While dealing with serious issues, there is sometimes fear and mistrust, even in legitimate cases,” said Tewari.
News Broadcasting
Book Cricket gets a digital century on News18 amid T20 fever
Nostalgic classroom game revamped in English, Hindi plus Telugu on web and app.
MUMBAI: When the T20 World Cup fever hits fever pitch, News18 decides to flip the script straight back to the classroom. The digital news platform has revived the timeless schoolyard favourite Book Cricket as an interactive online game, perfectly timed to ride the cricket wave gripping fans across the globe. The reimagined Book Cricket ditches textbooks for smartphones, blending old-school nostalgia with modern gameplay. Once a sneaky recess pastime played by flicking book pages to score runs, the digital version now offers seamless fun for anyone craving a quick cricket fix between overs.
Available in English, Hindi and Telugu (with more languages planned across News18’s network), the game sits within the platform’s fast-growing gaming portfolio of over 20 titles, all built in-house. It joins event-driven hits like ‘Kursi Catcher’ and ‘Result Rewind’ during the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections, plus festive specials such as ‘Durga’s Astras’ for Durga Puja and ‘Mouse Modak’ for Ganesh Chaturthi.
News18 Digital CEO Mitul Sangani said, “Gaming is a key pillar of our engagement strategy. At News18, we uniquely combine our newsroom agility with immersive gaming experiences. By blending credible content with interactive formats, we are creating meaningful engagement in an era defined by shrinking attention spans and evolving consumption habits.”
Select titles have expanded beyond News18.com to CNBC-TV18.com and Firstpost.com, reflecting the network’s push to deepen user interaction across platforms. The Book Cricket game is live now at https://www.news18.com/games/book-cricket/.
In a tournament where every boundary counts, News18’s digital Book Cricket proves the simplest games can still deliver the biggest smiles no syllabus required, just pure cricket joy one page-flip at a time.
