News Broadcasting
BBC appoints Dumeetha Luthra as Colombo correspondent
MUMBAI: BBC has appointed Dumeetha Luthra as its new Sri Lanka correspondent.
Luthra has already joined her new post in the Sri Lankan capital. Prior to that she was the news correspondent in Baghdad.
Luthra began her career in BBC in 1995 as a producer. She was based in London till 2000. Following that she was set up in Croatia and as a producer covered the fall of Milosevic, the conflict in Macedonia and other Balkan events.
After 11 September 2001, she went to Afghanistan and was working there until December 2002. In 2003 at the time of the Iraq war, Luthra was in Northern Iraq to cover the story for BBC News. After a brief stay in London she returned to Basra to report on the present turmoil in the country and then went on to Baghdad for a stint there, informs an official communiqué.
The highpoints of Luthra’s journalistic career include the coverage of the fall of Kabul in Afghanistan in November 2001 along with the celebrated journalist John Simpson (BBC World Affairs Unit editor). The fall of Kirkuk in April 2003 and days later the fall of Tikrit. She spent five months in Basra covering the Iraq story from a different perspective, providing a real day to day picture outside of the daily bombings from Baghdad, informs the release.
According to BBC South Asia bureau editor Paul Danahar, “Dumeetha comes to one of the most important assignments in South Asia. She brings to the post the right mix of experience and enthusiasm essential to report on the wide-ranging stories from Sri Lanka. BBC’s reporting from Sri Lanka has been highly respected in the past, I am sure Dumeetha will reinforce that credibility.”
Speaking about her latest appointment, Luthra, an economics graduate said, “I’m really looking forward to working in Sri Lanka. I’ve travelled so much in the past few years so Sri Lanka will provide a great opportunity to really discover stories in a fascinating and beautiful country.”
News Broadcasting
India Today Group debuts AI anchor ‘Sutra’ at AI Impact Summit 2026
Sutra aims to simplify live policy debates using sovereign AI models
NEW DELHI: India Today Group has unveiled Sutra, an AI-driven news anchor designed to deliver real-time, contextual reporting, marking the group’s latest push to integrate artificial intelligence into mainstream journalism.
The AI anchor was introduced at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi and developed in collaboration with BharatGen, with the initiative showcased by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
India Today Group said Sutra is built to navigate complex policy discussions and fast-moving developments by synthesising information into concise, accessible insights, aimed at narrowing the gap between high-level debates and public understanding. The AI anchor was used to surface live takeaways from key sessions at the summit.
India Today Group chief AI officer Nilanjan Das, said the project was focused on clarity and accessibility without diluting editorial rigour. He added that working with BharatGen aligned the group’s AI ambitions with India’s broader push towards sovereign technology capabilities.
BharatGen CEO Rishi Bal, said the partnership reflected a shift from basic automation towards deeper contextual intelligence in media. He emphasised the importance of indigenous, multimodal AI models capable of understanding Indian languages, regional dialects and cultural nuance, particularly as AI-driven news formats gain traction.
The launch positions India Today Group among the first major Indian media houses to deploy an AI anchor backed by home-grown technology, underscoring a growing convergence between journalism, public policy and sovereign AI infrastructure.
