News Broadcasting
Al Jazeera International names Rageh Omaar to host ‘Witness’
MUMBAI: Al Jazeera International, the 24-hour English language news and current affairs channel, has named the renowned journalist Rageh Omaar to host a daily documentary strand Witness.
Witness will be what its title implies, a programme of first-hand account. No academics, no commentators unless they are themselves ‘Witnesses’.
The programme will give voice to witnesses from all over the globe, featuring human stories made by storytellers from all walks of life. The documentary Witness will include material gathered from freelancers and independent companies all across the globe through a unique commissioning site www.ajicommissioning.net.
Al Jazeera International director programming Paul Gibbs says, “As the channel’s daily documentary strand, Witness will be the epitome of traditional storytelling with characters that we care about and age old themes presented by internationally renowned journalist Rageh Omaar. We will be unveiling more of our diverse programme offering as we get closer to launch in late Spring of this year,” Gibbs continued.
“It’s hugely exciting to be joining a channel which promises to revolutionise global news and current affairs” said Omaar.
Rageh will continue to make programmes for other broadcasters. Rageh Omaar was most recently BBC News’ Africa correspondent based in Johannesburg. His reporting during the Iraq war made him a household name. Many of his broadcasts were syndicated across the US, where the Washington Post labelled him the ‘Scud Stud’.
Previously Rageh was developing world correspondent for the BBC covering stories ranging from drought in Ethiopia to devastating floods in Mozambique. Prior to that he was Amman correspondent having taken a three-month sabbatical at the University of Jordan to study Arabic. Between 1994 and 1996, he worked as a broadcast journalist for the World Service and then became a producer and reporter for Newshour.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI: Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
