News Broadcasting
BBC World’s ‘The World Challenge’ shortlists India’s Irula Venom Centre as a finalist
MUMBAI: The World Challenge – a global competition in partnership with BBC World, Shell and Newsweek which seeks to highlight and reward outstanding examples of community enterprise and innovation – has announced that the Irula Venom Centre has been shortlisted as one of 12 finalists.
Earlier this year, BBC World received a total of 457 entries with the highest numbers coming from India with a total of 71 nominations. Forty five entries came from the United States, 30 from Nigeria , 18 from South Africa and 17 from Pakistan.
A panel of judges, including representatives from the World Bank, TVE and Triodos Bank, chose 12 unique and interesting entries to progress to the final stage. The panel recognised the innovative way in which the Irula Venom Centre (India) has been able to create employment for local tribal people, while protecting the local community from the dangers of venomous snakes.
The Irula community, not long ago impoverished, is now being employed to catch snakes and carefully extract their venom, before releasing them back into the wild. This venom is used to create anti-venom serum for the treatment of snakebites, which, in turn, protects the local community from harm. The project has been so successful that the Irula Venom Centre now supplies up to 80 per cent of the venom for India’s medical needs.
A 15-minute film is being produced on each of the finalists, and these will be aired as six special programmes about The World Challenge to be broadcast globally on BBC World for six weeks from Saturday 20 August (every Saturday at 2 pm and 7 pm). Each project will also be featured extensively in Newsweek.
Viewers can vote for their favourite project through the website of The World Challenge, at www.theworldchallenge.co.uk. The winning project will be announced in November, and will receive from Shell a grant of US$20,000.
The other shortlisted projects are: Basket Weaving (Kenya), Bio Power (Malta), Coconuts For Erosion Control (Philippines), Elephant Pepper (Zambia), Men On The Side Of The Road (South Africa), Nguna-Pele Rechargeable Battery (Vanuatu), Real Vision, Real IPM (Kenya), Resin Roof Tiles (Ukraine), Riet Vell Organic Farming (Spain), ROMP (United Kingdom), Weddings That Give Back (United States).
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.
