News Broadcasting
ABC 20/20, Sweden’s TV4 receive intl Watchdog awards
MUMBAI: An ABC News 20/20 report in the US, documenting systematic sexual exploitation of girls and boys by UN peacekeepers and civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been awarded the Outstanding Investigative Reporting prize for 2005 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the international arm of the American organisation Center for Public Integrity.
The ICIJ Award judges said the ABC 20/20 report represented “investigative journalism at its finest” and was “a riveting expose, a story superbly told.”For the first time, the atrocities and rights violations on the part of the UN and its representatives are exposed and documented. ABC did its homework, took its cameras to the crime scenes in the Congo, convinced victims to tell their awful stories on the record and then nailed UN officials, also on camera, for their inadequate responses to UN ‘peacekeepers’ having sex with young girls and boys,” the judges wrote in their letter of commendation.
In ABC 20/20’s Peace at What Price: Investigating UN Misconduct in the Congo, Brian Ross, David Wilson Scott and Rhonda Schwartz travelled to the Congo where they interviewed victims and revealed, among other things, the case of a senior UN official who ran an Internet paedophile ring.
In addition, Sweden’s TV4 won a special citation award of $2,000 for its hour-long documentary The Broken Promise which exposed US government involvement in the “extraordinary rendition,” of two Egyptian citizens from Sweden to Egypt. Fredrik Laurin, Joachim Dyfvermark, and Sven Bergman revealed how the men were interrogated and tortured for more than 60 days as part of the US global war on terrorism.
The ICIJ Awards were created in 1997 to honour transnational investigative reporting. The $20,000 first-place prize and $1,000 finalist awards are made possible by a grant from The John and Florence Newman Foundation to recognise, reward and foster international investigative reporting. Award winners and finalists include journalists from Bulgaria, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US.
Four entries received the $1,000 finalist award:
— Miroluba Emilova Benatova of Bulgaria’s bTV for her television
investigation Kidney Traffic.
— Alfredo Corchado, Tracey Eaton, Laurence Iliff, and David McLemore of the Dallas Morning News, for their series documenting drug related violence along the US-Mexico border.
— Ola Flyum, David Hebditch of NRK/SVT/and DR Television in Norway for
their documentary The Manuscript Collector/Stealing History.
— Daniel Foggo and Charlotte Edwardes of The Sunday Telegraph in the U.K.
for their series of stories on illegal abortions.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
