News Broadcasting
Phillippines network wins 2003 CASBAA/ABU Unicef Child Rights Award
HONG KONG: The GMA-7 Network of the Phillippines won the 2003 CASBAA/ABU Unicef Child Rights Award. This was presented a few days ago during a gala presentation at the annual Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) charity ball in Hong Kong.
The winning entry by GMA, Selda Inosente (Angels in Prison) was chosen from ten finalists shortlisted in the competition for the annual Child Rights award. The award is given in recognition of the best television programme devoted to an issue related to children’s Rights produced in the Asia- Pacific region. The award-winning programme examined the plight of children born and living in prisons in the Phillippines.
Competing for the award were 38 programmes submitted by 18 broadcasters from 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The other finalists in the competition included MTV’s Speak your Mind: Raveena Tandon in India , Star’s Children at Work: Shankuntala Santhiran and Disney’s Playhouse Disney: Elephants
Unicef spokesperson Emily Booker was quoted in an official release saying, “Through this annual competition, CASBAA, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and Unicef seek to encourage broadcasters to play a more active role in promoting and protecting the rights of children by providing them with a regular diet of quality television programming.”
CASBAA CEO Simon Twiston Davies added, “Through this award, Unicef, CASBAA and the ABU are urging broadcasters to forward overall child development in their countries by producing documentaries. They detail the plight of children. They come in the form of dramas that help break down gender stereotypes and reduce discrimination, and animation that both teaches and entertains.”
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.
