News Broadcasting
MIB takes action on 163 violation cases of Programme Code against private channels in last 3 years
Mumbai: The ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) has taken action in 163 cases in the last three years and the current year against private TV channels found in violation with the Programme Code. The ministry took action through the issuance of advisories, warnings, apology scroll orders, and off-air orders.
MIB had issued an advisory on 23 April to all private satellite TV channels to ensure strict compliance with the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and rules framed thereunder.
As per the advisory, the ministry observed that the reporting of the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the recent demolition incident in North-West Delhi were “misleading, sensationalist and have communal overtones.”
Also Read: MIB condemns reporting of Russia-Ukraine conflict and Delhi demolition in advisory
During the monsoon session of Parliament, the Lok Sabha asked the MIB whether it had taken action against TV channels which aired television debates allowing participants to air communally provocative and derogatory remarks. It also asked the government what action it has taken to prevent news channels from airing such debates on communal issues in the future.
All programmes telecast on private satellite TV channels are required to adhere to the Programme Code laid down in the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994, framed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1994. The Programme Code, inter alia, provides that no programme should be telecast that contains attacks on religions or communities, or visuals or words contemptuous of religious groups, or that promotes communal attitudes.
The Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Rules, inter alia, contains broad guidelines relating to content broadcast on private television channels. The central government has amended the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 to provide for a statutory mechanism for redressal of grievances and complaints of violations of the Programme Code and Advertising Codes of the broadcast by television channels.
The Rules provide for three levels of complaint redressal mechanisms: Level I by the broadcaster; Level II by the self-regulating bodies of the broadcasters; and Level III by the oversight mechanism of the central government.
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.
