News Broadcasting
BBC World Service turns the spotlight on those wielding power
MUMBAI: BBC World Service asks the question Who Runs Your World?. This is patr of a season of programmes that turn the spotlight on power: who has it, who wants it, how it’s used and how it’s changing.
The two-week season which has kicked off aims to challenge and inform listeners, creating a global forum for debate among the 190 million people who tune into the BBC’s international news services on radio, television and online every week. BBC World Service director Nigel Chapman says, “Who Runs Your World? is the most ambitious themed season ever attempted by the Global News division of the BBC. It will provide an unprecedented global forum for debating issues of power in the 21st century. It aims to push the boundaries of interactivity, asking audiences to help define the season early on, via a dedicated website at bbcnews.com/yourworld. Audiences will be telling us, and each other, their stories and views, as well as engaging in a global conversation in three special live debates in Washington, Delhi and Cairo about who runs their world.”
The season examines who runs the worlds of business, sport, science, religion, entertainment, art, culture and crime – and explores the power these worlds wield over our everyday lives. It hears from people in power, people with no power, people who’ve had power and lost it, and those who are challenging the very basis of power structures.
Among the issues explored are: how much power politicians have within a given country; to what extent real power lies outside formal political structures; whether national governments a are being replaced by supra-national bodies; and what happens when formal power structures break down. Critically, it also assesses how much power and control individuals have over their own lives.
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.
