News Broadcasting
BBC News announces senior editorial appointments
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster BBC News has announced two new appointments within its senior editorial teams in current affairs and newsgathering.
Karen O’Connor, who is currently the editor of BBC Two’s show This World, has been appointed to the new post of creative director, television current affairs. Jon Williams has been announced as the new World News Editor.
Karen O’Connor, a former deputy editor of both Panorama and Newsnight and executive producer in BBC Factual and Learning, will take responsibility for the creative leadership and day-to-day management of the Current Affairs department in London and Manchester. She will report to BBC News head current affairs, George Entwhistle.
Entwhistle said, “Karen has an incredibly strong track record in Current Affairs, and I look forward to working with her enormously. I know her energy, commitment and imagination are going to be crucial to the way we restructure and reinvigorate the department over the months ahead.”
BBC’s head of newsgathering, Fran Unsworth said, “Jon will bring great energy, strong organisational and editorial skills and vast experience of both newsgathering and programming to the job.”
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:Â 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.
