News Broadcasting
Twitter banter between India Today and Republic TV on viewership
MUMBAI: Every news channel wants to be number one, and it, of course, tries to find some metrics to declare itself as most-watched. This viewership battle has turned into a Twitter banter between two English news channels: India Today and Republic TV.
The banter started with India Today mocking Republic TV for its ‘For The Record’ tag, wherein the latter has been boasting about its viewership gain for being a leader so far this year than its peers in all India males-22-plus-individuals’ category, as per BARC.
India Today shared two promos on its Twitter handle with the caption ‘For The Record’. The first promo, which is a 21-second video, has a gramophone playing audio as similar to Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami’s voice.
The second promo is even more creative, wherein an image of a cracked gramophone disc, which also called as a record, is shown with Republic TV’s name below it. India Today mocking its rival praised itself with the tagline: ‘A news channel (India Today) that doesn’t sound like a broken record’.
Retaliating to the mockery, Republic TV in its eighth part of ‘For The Record’ edition took a veiled dig at India Today quoting BARC’s data tweeted: “Republic requests SMALLER channels not to fudge numbers when BARC official data is available publicly.”
The record being the keyword here, India Today tried to play with the word and portrayed Republic TV as ‘Broken Record’ in its promo. Post week 14 numbers were out, the former ran a campaign of it being the most-watched news channel with a tag line ‘Where It Matters’, it indirectly touted the latter with its viewership growth in megacities TG males between week 12- 14, as per BARC.
News Broadcasting
Kamlesh Singh receives Haldi Ghati Award from MMCF
India Today Group editor honoured for three decades of journalism at Udaipur ceremony.
MUMBAI- Kamlesh Singh just turned a lifetime of sharp words into a shiny shield because when journalism wakes up a society, even the Maharana of Mewar wants to pin a medal on it.
The Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation (MMCF) conferred its prestigious Haldi Ghati Award on Kamlesh Singh, a senior editor at the India Today Group, during a ceremony in Udaipur on 15 March 2026. The national award, instituted in 1981-82, recognises “work of permanent value that initiates an awakening in society through the medium of journalism.”
Singh, who leads several editorial initiatives including Aaj Tak Radio, the Teen Taal community and The Lallantop, was presented the honour by Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, Managing Trustee of MMCF. The citation highlighted his three decades of contributions to Indian media, innovations in digital journalism, mentoring young reporters, and his popular podcast persona “Tau” on Teen Taal, which fosters thoughtful public discourse.
The Haldi Ghati Award, named after the historic Battle of Haldighati symbolising valour and resilience, is one of four national awards given annually by MMCF. Past recipients include Tavleen Singh, Piyush Pandey and Raj Chengappa.
Other honourees this year included Padma Vibhushan Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Vedamurti Devvrat Rekhe, Treeman of India Marimuthu Yoganathan, Vir Chakra Capt Rizwan Malik, and US-based researcher Molly Emma Aitken, who received the Colonel James Tod Award for contributions to understanding Mewar’s spirit and values.
In an era where headlines often shout louder than substance, the MMCF quietly reminded everyone that real journalism isn’t about noise, it’s about the quiet, persistent work that stirs society awake, one thoughtful story at a time.
