News Broadcasting
BBC World examines the state of Aids in India
MUMBAI: News channel BBC World has announced that its initiative Who’s Afraid of HIV? returns for a new four-part series exploring the global social revolution driven by HIV, where life and society are being re-shaped by a disease. Breadwinners die, girls are forced into prostitution, and infidelity is on the increase. In this series, we revisit some of the locations featured in the series last year, to find out how some of the children affected by this deadly disease have managed to survive.
On 14 December 2006 at 4 pm the channel looks at India. In traditional conservative India victims of the HIV virus are frequently referred to as “those with bad blood” or ‘those with low morals”. Stigma and discrimination are so commonplace that with the threat of wives being divorced, employees fired, children abandoned and refused entry to schools, few are willing to reveal their HIV status to even those closest to them.
A year on the show returns to Nammakkal, Tamil Nadu, Southern India in search of 11 year old Vinod and his family. Has his and his mother Poonkundi’s HIV status become public as they feared, has the vital financial support from Poonkundi’s brother been withdrawn as a result? If so what does this mean for them in their small rural community. And are the anti viral drugs that Vinod and Poonkundi have become dependant on still available?
On 21 December Russia takes centrestage. Following the fall of the communist states in eastern Europe and the subsequent economic depression and unemployment, HIV has spread at alarming rates over the last 10 years. Fuelled by a huge intravenous drug use problem much of Russia in the late 1990s had very high HIV infection rates.
The Russian Baltic territory of Kaliningrad, nestling between Poland and Lithuania, may now have drug use being brought under control but for the orphans of this epidemic, like 3 year old Svieta, the future is still very uncertain. The damage most likely caused by Svetia’s mother’s continued drug abuse during her pregnancy could be clearly seen when we first met her, one year on has she begun to talk or are the affects of this combined with the virus continuing to stunt her development. For her elderly adoptive parents the strain of raising a 4 year old child is taking its toll.
On 28 December the channel visits Malawi. The small town of Monkey Bay on the banks of Lake Malawi, like so many other small towns and villages throughout southern Africa, is being destroyed by HIV/Aids. The channel returns to Monkey bay where Joyce Lwanda jumps from class to class struggling to teach an entire primary school on her own. For the children taught by Joyce, head teacher at Kankhande primary School, HIV is both a threat to their lives, and for those lucky enough to avoid the worse affects of the disease it may just take away their best chance at Education. Joyce one of the few teachers that seems to bother to appear at school regularly is HIV positive.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
