News Broadcasting
ATTRACTING INTERNATIONAL FILM BUSINESS TO INDIA
he world over more and more countries understands the rewards of attracting International film productions to shoot within their boundaries. In the short term not only do these productions bring in much required money, training and infrastructure. They also provide an impetus to ailing film industries; they provide much needed work and revenue.
The long term has more to offer. An international hit film seen globally does more for tourism in one stroke than any campaign costing millions of dollars. This was first seen with the case of the English patient. The Algerian government capitalized on the Oscar nomination of this film and tourism grew 10 fold. New Zealand has seen the same phenomena with Lord of the Rings. The locations of the film shooting have become great tourist destinations, as has the country as a whole.
Countries blessed with exotic locations understand the importance of creating opportunities to film so as to ensure instant publicity, which leads to greater tourism apart from the enormous resources that any film brings to the economy.
In recent times Switzerland, Scotland, Ireland and parts of the Midlands have understood this and have provided great benefits for Indian film crews to shoot scenes there. Their long-term agenda is to increase tourism.
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.
