News Broadcasting
NBA deplores abuses against anchors, reporters
MUMBAI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has expressed grave concern over the tendency among certain sections of people to resort to abuses and threats against anchors and reporters working in news channels.
A NBA release said that particular trend has been noticed after the electronic media recently exposed the role of Tablighi Jamaat in spreading Coronavirus, resulting in a nationwide spurt in the number of positive cases and subsequent deaths.
Anchors and reporters working in news channels are being specifically targeted through social media platforms like WhatsApp, TikTok and Twitter.
There have been videos on social media in which some religious preachers can be seen naming some TV news anchors and threatening attacks on the reporters of those channels.
The NBA strongly deplored this pernicious trend in a section of society and appealed to the government and law enforcing agencies to take immediate preventive action against such anti-social elements.
The association said that the electronic media has done exemplary work in reporting Coronavirus pandemic in India during the current lockdown and the overall tenor of reporting has been fair, accurate and balanced. All sections of society have been given fair representation on TV debates on Coronavirus pandemic.
The association has called upon religious fundamentalists to desist from issuing open threats and making insinuations against news channels. Such activities violate the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, as enshrined in our Constitution.
“News channels are available to all sections of society including the fundamentalists. NBA would like these leaders to come forward and clear their stand on the role of Tablighi Jamaat in spreading the Coronavirus,” said NBA release signed by president Rajat Sharma.
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.
