News Broadcasting
Dr S Jaishankar’s most significant interview to NDTV’s editor-in-chief Sanjay Pugalia
Mumbai: As India gears up for the grand finale of a successful G20 presidency, External Affairs minister S Jaishankar sat down for an engaging and in-depth conversation with NDTV editor-in-chief Sanjay Pugalia at NDTV’s G20 Conclave. In a room full of diplomats, foreign policy watchers and senior NDTV journalists, minister Jaishankar described India’s G20 Presidency as a game-changer. He said the country that commands respect today in the world is India. The minister added that under the leadership of prime minister Narendra Modi, India has taken G20 out of the conference rooms to the people. Dr Jaishankar expressed confidence of an outcome at the Summit.
On the latest China irritant of putting out a map claiming Aksai chin as its territory, the Minister said that this is China’s old habit. Describing the move as absurd, Dr Jaishankar said that India today is very clear about what territories it needs to defend. He reiterated that the area is an integral part of India.
In the same vein, the minister spoke of Pakistan, saying that no one invests in a ‘losing stock’. Dr Jaishankar also called the abrogation of article 370 one of the most significant achievements of the Modi Government and asked naysayers to go to Lal Chowk in Srinagar to see the difference for themselves. He hit out at previous governments for playing politics over Kashmir.
With India emerging as the voice of the Global South, the minister said that India has forwarded its agenda at G20. He said that India is the bridge between the North, South, East & West, today.
Praising PM Modi, the External Affairs minister said that he is a very curious person and has deep knowledge of global politics. He said that Prime Minister Modi’s single-line message to President Putin, that now is not the time for war, conveyed the world’s sentiment.
Dr Jaishankar described the success of Chandrayaan-3 as an example of India’s credibility and capability. He said that everyone at the BRICS Summit lauded the success as a collective achievement.
Responding to a question asked by the Australian High Commissioner to India, Mr. Phillip Green, on whether the world would go back to the times of Mahabharata and be bipolar, he said that multi-polarity is here to stay. No one country can call the shots anymore.
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.
