News Broadcasting
News18 India celebrates Ganesh Chaturthi with TV stars
MUMBAI: As people across the country prepare for Ganesh Chaturthi, News18 India is all set to welcome Lord Ganesha through its popular television entertainment show ‘Saas Bahu Aur Devrani’. Celebrating the spirit of Ganesh Utsav, the fourth edition of ‘News18 India Ka Raja’ will witness myriad television celebrities welcome and worship Lord Ganesha.
Adding excitement to the celebrations on the small screen, the channel will take ‘News18 India ka Raja’ to the top TV serial sets. This year, renowned actor Nishant Malkani from popular serial 'Guddan Tumse Na Ho Payega' will bring ‘News18 India Ka Raja’ on the show’s set. Commenting on the initiative, Nishant said, "I feel blessed that I will bring and welcome Bappa Ganesha on our sets here. I am from Delhi but today Ganeshotsav has become a festival of the whole world. I wish and pray to Lord Ganesha to shower his blessings on everyone.”
Actor Shivangi Joshi from the serial 'Yeh Rishta Kya Kahlata Hai’ will also welcome Lord Ganesha. The entire cast and crew will offer prayers and prasadam followed by a grand aarti. During the 11-day long celebrations, Lord Ganesha will travel daily to the sets of popular shows and will be greeted by top television celebrities such as Deepika Singh, Sahabaz, Reem Sheikh, Avinesh Rekhi, Advik Mahajan and Shivangi Joshi to name a few.
Starting 2nd September, all the excitement of the festival will be captured daily by a special segment on ‘Saas Bahu Aur Devrani’.
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.
