News Broadcasting
Al Jazeera International gears for Kuala Lumpur broadcast centre
MUMBAI: Doha based — Al Jazeera International, the yet-to launch 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel has roped in Divya Gopalan and Hamish MacDonald have joined the channel’s team of on-screen talent.
Divya and Hamish will be the channel’s weekend news anchors for Al Jazeera International’s Kuala Lumpur broadcast centre, one of four regional broadcast centres strategically placed around the world in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC. They join the weekday news anchors Veronica Pedrosa and Teymoor Nabili, formerly of CNN International and CNBC Asia respectively.
Gopalan brings the channel over 10 year’s experience in international journalism including roles with BBC News, CNN and American networks NBC and CNBC. MacDonald meanwhile joins Al Jazeera International from the UK’s Channel 4 News where he built a career as a news producer and reporter covering a range of international stories.
Al Jazeera International MD Nigel Parsons said, “I am pleased to confirm our weekend presenters who bring a dynamic approach to news reporting in keeping with the channel’s aim of bringing a fresh perspective on world news while maintaining the highest journalistic standards.”
Already on the board, are name likes of Sir David Frost, Veronica Pedrosa and Riz Khan.
At the BBC Gopalan worked on daily news and current affairs programmes such as Hard Talk. Her portfolio included major news stories such as the Iraq war, the Asian Tsunami, the Bali and London bombings. She also covered the 1997 Hong Kong handover for NBC and at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival interviewed Palm D’or winner for best actress Maggie Cheung and best director nominee Wong Kar Wai. Gopalan was the first ethnic Indian newsreader on Hong Kong television.
Starting her on-air career as a sports reporter, Gopalan interviewed some of the biggest names in the sporting world like tennis stars Steffi Graf, the Williams sisters, Anna Kournikova, F1 star Jensen Button, and International soccer players including Gianfranco Zola and Andy Cole.
Gopalan has a truly global background, she is of Indian origin and was born in Hong Kong. She was also brought up in the Philippines, educated in North America and spent five years living and working in London and is fluent in four languages.
MacDonald has covered major stories at Channel 4 including the Asian Tsunami and the London bombings. He reported live for Channel 4 and ITV news and reported as an eyewitness for Australian Networks 9, 7 and ABC.
He began his TV career with WIN television in Canberra as a politics reporter and presenter. From there he moved to the UK and freelanced for a short period, before joining the Channel 4 news team as a producer.
MacDonald trained in journalism at Charles University in Australia and began his career as a Talk Radio presenter and newsreader on Radio 2BS Gold. He is the first Australian news anchor to join the Al Jazeera International news line-up of on-screen talent.
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.
