News Broadcasting
India TV makes 3 key appointments
MUMBAI: India TV has appointed experienced professionals at three key positions. Ajay Kumar has been appointed as consulting editor, Anand Pandey will be editor- research and planning and Jaya Prakash Singh has joined as chief of bureau, Mumbai.
Kumar has 27 years of experience in television journalism. He has been the managing editor of News Nation channel for the last four and a half years. During the nineties, he worked as special correspondent and anchor for Aaj Tak and Newstrack for seven years, after which he worked in Star News as editor and anchor for four years. He returned to Aaj Tak as executive editor in 2007 and worked for more than five years in his second stint. In 2016, he joined News Nation as part of its core launch team. Kumar has interviewed several national and international personalities, anchored popular TV shows and did live reporting during major news events in India and abroad.
Pandey has 25 years of experience in print media. Starting as a cub reporter for Dainik Bhaskar in Indore in 1995, he later worked for the national political bureau of the newspaper in Delhi. He had a three-year stint at Zee News in Delhi and was resident editor for Nai Dunia in Jabalpur. He later worked as resident editor for the Indore and Bhopal editions of Dainik Bhaskar. He worked for three years as group editor for Nai Dunia-Dainik Jagaran newspaper group. For the last two years, he has been editor of DB Star, Dainik Bhaskar, Bhopal.
Singh returns to India TV as Mumbai bureau chief after a gap of two years. Earlier, he had worked for India TV as Mumbai bureau chief for six years. He has 26 years of experience in print and television journalism, and had earlier stints in Sahara Samay and IBN7, before joining India TV. A livewire, hardworking reporter, he was among the first TV reporters to reach Taj Hotel on the fateful night of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
India TV managing director Ritu Dhawan said: “For television viewers among various TG groups, India TV has become synonymous with ‘television news’ during the current Covid2019 and India-China LAC standoff crisis. The induction of these three experienced professionals will surely work as a stimulus to India TV’s leap to the next big level. I extend my congratulations to the new appointees and wish them success in their new endeavour.”
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
