News Broadcasting
BBC’s ‘Panorama’ to expose unsavoury deals at Fifa
MUMBAI: A British football chief has revealed how a Fifa VP asked him to pay Football Association money into his own personal bank account.
The former chairman of the Scottish FA, John McBeth, has told UK pubcaster the BBC’s show Panorama that a top Fifa executive Jack Warner asked him to make the match fee cheque payable to him personally, following an international match in Edinburgh.
It is one of a series of suspect dealings involving Fifa. Panorama asks why Fifa’s ethics committee – run by Lord Sebastian Coe – is not taking action.
Other questions about foul play directed at world football’s governing body include:
Why a FIFA official, branded a liar by an American judge, is now Fifa General Secretary; why no-one has been prosecuted after falsifying documents in the same case – a crime punishable by up to five years in prison; and why a Fifa executive committee member was allowed to pay his national team players only £500 each for their participation in the World Cup, despite securing lucrative sponsorship deals – and then blacklisted them from the national team when they complained.
Panorama asked Lord Coe why the ethics committee was not looking into these issues. He declined to answer or give any details of his job, referring all queries to Fifa, the body he is supposed to be monitoring.
McBeth first expressed concerns about corruption in Fifa after being chosen to fill Britain’s post on the Fifa executive committee in May this year. He pointed the finger at football officials in Africa and the Caribbean – but was dropped just days before starting his new job amid accusations of bigotry and racism from Vice-President Warner.
However, he is adamant that this was a merely a smokescreen and that he was sailing far too close to the truth for some Fifa members. McBeth says, “There are one or two people on that executive committee that I wouldn’t trust as far as I could throw. I was talking about the football people that I’ve met and dealt with in Africa and the Caribbean. It was football people I was talking about. I wasn’t talking about the nation. I’m not a racist bigot and I think it probably says more about Jack and him trying to deflect away the criticism that I was making of corruption.”
Speaking for the first time on the subject, McBeth has revealed how Warner, who represents Fifa in North and Central America and the Caribbean, asked him to pay a match fee directly into his personal account.
Previously, Warner was found guilty by Fifa’s ethics committee of touting thousands of World Cup tickets through his family travel company in Trinidad. Yet he escaped with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. He was also accused of “ripping off” Trinidad and Tobago’s players following last year’s World Cup.
The Panorama investigation has also found that some of Fifa’s actions in relation to a sponsorship deal amounted to criminal activity, punishable by up to five years in prison in Fifa’s home nation, Switzerland.
FIFA attempted to drop its sponsor MasterCard and replace it with Visa, contrary to a long-standing agreement, and was taken to court in New York by MasterCard, where the judge condemned its actions.The man who led FIFA’s marketing team, Jerome Valcke, admitted lying to both MasterCard and Visa.
The BBC adds that despite the serious nature of the case, Lord Coe’s ethics committee has took no action. And when Panorama asked Lord Coe why he was not looking into this case he declined to talk. Warner and Valcke also declined to comment.
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.
