News Broadcasting
BBC bolsters factual commissioning department
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC has announced that its factual commissioning department has added to its new structure and team with the appointment of a group of executive producers to support the five commissioning editors. These roles have specific responsibility for liaising with independent production companies, development of ideas and quality control.
In the documentaries area, Charlotte Moore rejoins the BBC from IWC Media where she was head of documentaries. She will work primarily to Documentaries Commissioning Editor, Richard Klein. Mirella Breda becomes executive producer for factual features and factual entertaiment, working to Elaine Bedell.
They join Ben Gale – executive producer for both factual features, working to Elaine Bedell, and Documentaries, working to Richard Klein – who has specific responsiblity for BBC Three and Maxine Watson, who will be Executive Producer for Documentaries from next November, after six months on attachment to Daytime.
The other executive producers already in post are Martin Davidson, for specialist factual, and Lucy Hetherington for current affairs. Jacquie Hughes continues in her role as executive editor for Arts and Religion, working to Adam Kemp.
Factual commissioning controller Glenwyn Benson said, “We now have a full team of top calibre executive support for our five commissioning editors. They are all highly experienced senior programme makers, with a senior background in both the independent sector and the BBC. The high quality and experience in our team will enable us to bring the best of the independent sector’s creativity to our channels.”
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
