News Broadcasting
TV is top source of news in US: Pew
MUMBAI: Television is the leading source of news in the US. According to the Pew Research Centre’s bi-annual survey on news consumption habits, fewer Americans are reading newspapers.
As per the survey, younger people tend to get more of their news on the Internet, while older folks use traditional media such as television and newspapers.
Forty-six per cent of those polled — had a “heavy reliance” on television for their news at all times of the day. This group is the oldest, with a median age of 52, and least affluent, with 43 percent unemployed. They are unlikely to own a computer or go online for news.
Overall, among those who get some of their news on TV, less watch the 6:30 broadcast network newscasts, and instead opt for cable news sources such as CNN or Fox News Channel. Majority of CNN’s audience consists of Democrats — while 39 percent of Fox News viewers are Republicans, 33 percent Democrats.
The group that relies most on the Internet for news is the youngest at a median age of 35. It is also the smallest, at 13 percent of those polled. Fewer than half of them watch television news on a regular basis.
As per the survey, consumers of online news tend to be more educated than those who get their news from traditional sources, with 44 percent of college graduates say that they read news online every day. Just 11 percent of those who topped out with a high school education go online for news.
The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. It polled 3,615 adults 18 years or older by telephone between 30 April and 1 June.
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.
