News Broadcasting
Arup Ghosh, Shireen quit Sahara Samay Rashtriya
NEW DELHI: Star anchors Arup Ghosh and Shireen, who had quit NDTV almost three years back to join the Sahara group’s television news venture, have left to pursue other assignments.
Arup Ghosh, head of Sahara Samay Rashtriya, the national news channel from the group, had built up the channel from the scratch, along with a team of professionals, including Shireen.
Shireen was initially touted to be the head of a NCR (national capital region of Delhi) news channel, a region specific channel that Sahara had promised would be launched, amongst other such channels.
However, despite two other region-specific channels being launched, the NCR fare is still to see the light of the day. Amongst those who have quit along with this duo, include Sahara Samay’s sports editor Sundeep Misra and business editor Abhishek.
Contacted by indiantelevision.com, the editorial head of Sahara’s media units (both print and electronic), Ambikanand Sahay, confirmed the development and said, “Departure of media unit heads should not hamper the functioning, but we have made some interim arrangements wherein Prabhat Dabral will hold additional charge of the national news channel also.”
Dabral, who has a Doordarshan background, heads the regional forays of Sahara’s news channels, which are present in states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
When asked what made them quit, Ghosh said, “There always comes a time, when one has to move on in life. We felt this is the right time for us to look at other ventures.”
However, he was quick to add that the Sahara experience was indeed ‘enriching,’ especially as the group’s promoter, Subrata Roy, gave them a free hand to build up the national news channel from the scratch.
Both Ghosh and Shireen had quit NDTV at a time when it was still going strong with Star for the Star News channel.
The national news channel, which had created ripples when it debuted over a year back, now languishes almost at the bottom of the news channel heap. Quizzed on the likely changes in the national news channel content, Dabral said, “The effort would be to have more rapid fire news and also content with which the masses would relate to.”
He, however, clarified that the changes had nothing to do with Ghosh and Shireen’s style of running the national news channel.
The Sahara Group (which lays claim to being India’s largest business house with an asset base of $ 10.98 billion) recently effected a corporate restructuring related to its media business and brought all the properties under a joint venture with Percept Finserve.
Though the functioning of the news channels — not carrying the One brand name yet, unlike the entertainment channel — have been kept outside the ambit of the corporate rejigg, the first signs of change in the news venture came when the technical head of Sahara’s national news channel, Kamal, left for Times’ TV venture few months back.
Later, another senior anchor, Sudhir Chowdhry, who had come from Zee TV, too left for Rajat Sharma’s India TV.
The total news channel venture, envisaging 36-odd region specific channels was estimated to be costing between Rs 5-6 billion. Out of this, between Rs 3-4 billion have been already spent on setting up infrastructure and buying equipment for the up and running news channels.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
