News Broadcasting
Pew ranks CNN US as top news source for Hurricane Katrina
MUMBAI: Television, and cable news channels in particular are the main sources of news for most Americans during a crisis. That was again the case for Hurricane Katrina. In a survey the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press revealed CNN to be the number one source in the US for news about Hurricane Katrina. The results are based on a national survey of 1,000 Americans conducted by Pew on 6 and 7 September 2005.
The survey, conducted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, found that of those surveyed, 31 per cent cited CNN as one of their main sources for news about Hurricane Katrina, more than any other branded news source. The Fox News Channel and MSNBC also saw sizable, though smaller, audience gains from Katrina. Cable television – CNN in particular – made the greatest gains in audience and was the leading news source during coverage of Hurricane Katrina, up 13 percentage points in viewership in June.
Americans who reported CNN as one of their primary sources of news were more likely to have made a donation to help those affected by the hurricane than Americans who cited the Fox News Channel, the broadcast networks or newspapers as a main source for Hurricane Katrina news. As occurred after 9/11 and during the start of the war in Iraq, the proportion of Americans who cited cable news channels as a main source of news grew dramatically.
In this instance, CNN made the greatest gains. In June, 18 per cent of Americans cited CNN as a source of most of their news about national and international issues. Following Katrina,
Television’s larger audience came at the expense of newspapers, the internet and radio. While still a primary source of information for many Americans on the disaster, all three are cited less frequently in this situation than under normal circumstances. Overall, two-thirds give news organizations excellent (28 per cent) or good (37 per cent) ratings for their coverage of the impact of Katrina. This is considerably more favourable than the public’s ratings a year ago for press coverage of the presidential election campaign. Current evaluations of coverage are in line with views of other major recent events, though considerably lower than the overwhelmingly positive media ratings following 9/11 (56 per cent excellent, 33 per cent good).
All in all, most (62 per cent ) said that the amount of coverage given to Katrina’s aftermath is appropriate, while less than a quarter (21 per cent ) said that there has been too much. There is a considerable partisan divide on this, however Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say there has been too much coverage of the impact of Katrina (27 per cent vs 15 per cent).
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.
