News Broadcasting
Hallmark to air film on Enron collapse ‘The Crooked E’
MUMBAI: Niche English entertainment channel Hallmark is showcasing the story of the infamous Enron Corporation this month. The film marks a bit of a departure from the “family fare” that is the signature of the channel.
The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron, which airs on 28 June at 10:30 pm, is based on the true story of how greed destroyed the Enron Corporation.
Hallmark arranged a preview screening of the movie last evening which certainly proved worth viewing. As far as The Crooked E is concerned it was refreshing to find a film on Hallmark where people instead of being hell bent on trying to do what is right are aiming to gain maximum profit at the expense of others. The film’s central protagonist Brian Cruver has shades of Charlie Sheen in Wall Street. The nave youngster with stars in his eyes comes crashing down to earth when he gets exposed to unscrupulous and manipulative corporate practices.
An irony that cannot be missed is the fact that Cruver works in a department that has introduced insurance against bankruptcy of a company. Veteran actor Brian Dennehy registers strong notes as Mr Blue, a family friend of Cruver who later on admits his culpability in Enron’s demise.
Indian viewers should find the film of interest as Enron’s local subsidiary Dabhol Power Corporation is still dogged in a legal, financial and political quagmire.
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.
