News Broadcasting
BBC World Service explores Asian Diasporas
MUMBAI:BBC World Service is launching a new three-part series examining the impact of Asian people on 21st century life. Asian Diasporas starts on Friday, 16 August on the English service and will explore aspects of Asian life and influence, from business and politics to family life.
Presented by Jatinder Verma, himself a child of the diaspora, Asian Diasporas looks at the contributions of recent and established immigrant communities and analyses their changing loyalties and identities, according to an official release. “When I arrived in Britain in 1968 from Kenya, ‘Asian’ was a minority concern,” explains Verma. “Over 30 years later, Asian food and culture are very much a part of the UK mainstream. Today, every fourth person one is ever likely to meet in the world will be an Asian. This is not just a reflection of global population but also of migration. There is hardly a country in the world without an Asian migrant population, so Asians are contributing to the changing face of the 21st century.”
Asian Diasporas goes to the United States, Malaysia, Brazil, United Arab Emirates and Britain to examine how the Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Korean Diasporas are shaping the world in the 21st century. Each programme compares and contrasts two case studies within one theme: Family, Business and Political Influence.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AWARD: BBC World Service has won the Commonwealth of Learning Award of Excellence for Institutional Achievement for the quality of its English teaching on radio and online.
BBC World Service’s Learning English output connects with audiences around the world, often through developing local partnerships.
Presenting the award, Andrea Hope, the Commonwealth of Learning’s Higher Education Specialist, praised the accessible, learner-centred approach of BBC World Service’s English language teaching provision and its use of computer and Internet technology.
Andrea said: “To avoid the loneliness of the long-distance learner, opportunities are provided to use English with other learners via an online message board and email-based discussion group, which now has nearly 3,000 members in 85 countries. We were impressed by the way the organisation makes partnerships with local educational bodies and broadcasters around the world to produce materials which achieve a balance between global content, global content adapted for local use and highly targeted local content produced in association with other partners.”
BBC English makes teaching materials on radio and online for BBC World Service.
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.
