News Broadcasting
Aaj Tak bags best campaign honour at RAPA awards
Hindi news channel Aaj Tak has bagged the Best Campaign of the Year (TV) Award at the 27th Radio and TV Advertising Practitioners’ Association of India (RAPA) Awards 2001. The awards function is to held this evening in Mumbai.
Through the ad campaign, Aaj Tak wanted to put forth the message that it was serious about the business of news coverage 24-hours a day. The channel knew the importance of the ad having universal appeal and so it looked at situations where the serious facet of the brand could be accompanied by an underlying sense of humour, says a company release.
The campaign was conceptualised by Gajraj Rao of Apocalypso Filmworks. According to Apocalypso director Pradeep Sarkar, ” We were given a free hand. The challenge was to mark the transition of Aaj Tak from a 1/2-hour programme to a 24-hour news channel and then as the Sabse Tez channel. The idea of using a black and white, humorous and old style juxtaposed with contemporary themes was to highlight the changes that it would make in our lives. The RAPA awards are a sure sign of the appreciation and success that the ads have achieved.”
The channel has earlier been honoured by the Indian Television Academy and Media Meet. RAPA claims to have received a record number of entries this year. All Radio and TV entries produced in India and broadcast and telecast for the first time, in any part of the world, between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2001 were eligible to compete.RAPA claims to be the only organisation that honours and gives awards in 48 categories and 17 India languages.
Other dignitaries expected to be present at the RAPA event include Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan, Mumbai’s sheriff Kiran Shantaram and film director Mahesh Bhatt.
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.
