News Broadcasting
Citizen journalism, blogging to grow in importance in journalism in the US: Survey
MUMBAI: A majority of Americans (55 per cent ) in an online survey said that bloggers are important to the future of American journalism. 74 per cent said that citizen journalism will play a vital role. The results are contained in a new We Media — Zogby Interactive poll.
Most respondents (53 per cent) also said that the rise of free Internet-based media pose the greatest opportunity to the future of professional journalism and three in four (76 per cent) said the Internet has had a positive impact on the overall quality of journalism.
The We Media survey results were released by iFOCOS and pollster John Zogby as part of an iFocos conference on media innovation hosted by the School of Communication at the University of Miami, with major support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. In the national survey of adults, 72 per cent said that they were dissatisfied with the quality of American journalism today. A majority of conference-goers who were polled on the subject agreed — 55 per cent said they were dissatisfied, and 61 per cent said that they believed that traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news.
Nearly nine out of 10 media insiders (86 per cent) believe that bloggers will play an important part in journalism’s future. The US is now seeing mainstream acceptance of what the survey calls the Power of Us – – the value, credibility, and vital expression of citizen and collaborative media, Until recently, many traditional news enterprises have been skeptical about We Media. They were either fearful or dismissive of our 2003 research forecasting and documenting the change in the media ecosystem. Now the Zogby poll provides additional evidence that “We Media” is an essential component — perhaps the essential component — for the agenda for news and information into the future.
iFocos co- founder Andrew Nachison says, “The research documents the widespread recognition that control and influence on how we know what we know is shifting to a vastly more distributed network of empowered individuals and organisations. This obviously will have a big impact on how media organisations evolve and conduct business, but it’s really about how we all discover, create, share and apply information, and that’s important to all industries, to entrepreneurs, to non-profits, to governments, to individuals and to society as a whole. We are all part of the ecosystem.”
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
