News Broadcasting
Hutton report may alter BBC functioning
MUMBAI: BBC chairman Gavyn Davies, who has stepped down from his post, has been the first casualty of the Lord Hutton report on the BBC. But deeper, far reaching changes are in the offing for the British Broadcasting Corporation and the way it handles its journalism as a result of the events that led to the death of Dr David Kelly.
One of the first changes to take place is the ban on its main presenters from writing columns on contentious issues, which will remove, among others, John Humphrys from the Sunday Times, and Jeff Randall from the Sunday Telegraph, according to media reports. It has also announced it is strengthening its complaints process and the editorial procedures designed to ensure programmes comply with its guidelines, both of which had come under criticism by some who gave evidence to Lord Hutton.
Gavyn Davies
BBC World Service head Mark Byford has been promoted to deputy director general and put in charge of both complaints and compliance procedures. Reporting to him will be a new controller of complaints, heading an enlarged department, and the controller of editorial policy, whose department already deals with programmes before they are broadcast.
In his report, Hutton has pointed out that, I consider that editorial system which the BBC permits was defective in that (correspondent Andrew) Gilligan was allowed to broadcast his report… without editors having seen a script of what he was going to say and without having considered whether it should be approved. The judge said BBC governors should have properly investigated Downing Street complaints as they defended the Corporation’s independence, reports say.
Dr David Kelly
Other changes that could take place in the BBC could also change the way programmes like Today and networks like Radio 5 Live and News 24 go about their business, particularly in their live coverage. BBC director general Greg Dyke had admitted to Lord Hutton in his testimony that there were “lessons to be learned” from the Kelly episode. Kelly allegedly slashed his wrist after being outed as the source of a BBC reporter’s claim that Prime Minister Tony Blair’s team exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons to justify war.
Dyke has since got senior BBC lawyers and editorial figures to review producer guidelines, particularly concerning the use of anonymous sources and how they are described in broadcasts. Dr David Kelly had supposedly killed himself after being named as the suspected source of the BBCs weapons dossier story put out by Andrew Gilligan about the British government’s intelligence dossier.
Lord Hutton
Dyke now says senior editorial figures will now consider whether in future all controversial reports should be scripted, instead of being discussed by the reporter and the presenter in what is known in broadcast terms as a “two-way” interview. The dossier story broke in the same format, in a discussion between Gilligan and Humphrys. In his evidence, Gilligan later said that he’d made “a slip of the tongue” in that broadcast and regretted giving the impression he thought the government had lied. “It is something that does happen in live broadcasts, an occupational hazard. It would have been better to have scripted this one.”
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.
