News Broadcasting
BEA elects Supriya Prasad as president; Ajit Anjum as general secretary
MUMBAI: There’s change at the top at the apex body – The Broadcast Editors’ Association (BEA) – that represents the editorial interests of the Indian news broadcasting industry. Aaj Tak and India Today managing editor Supriya Prasad was elected its president while Ajit Anjum was elected general secretary at at a general body meeting held on 14 August in New Delhi.
Other prominent journalists who will be holding office at the BEA following the election include: ABP News’ Dibang, Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami as vice-presidents. Ajay Kumar was elected too the post of treasurer.
A 15-member executive committee was also constituted following the election of the office –bearers. The committee comprises Qamar Waheed Naqvi, Shazi Zaman, N K Singh, Milind Khandekar (ABP News), Rahul Kanwal (India Today and Aajtak), Sanjay Bragta (Zee News), Sonia Singh (NDTV), Deepak Chaurasia (India News), Sanjeev Paliwal (Aaj Tak), Abhishek Kapoor (Republic TV), Ravi Prakas (TV9), Sukesh Ranjan (News 24), Navika Kumar (Times Now), Bhupendra Chaube (CNN News 18) and Rajesh Raina (ETV). The executive committee serves to help the BEA take decisions.
After election of the new team, BEA president Supriya Prasad thanked the outgoing leaders and appreciated the contribution made by them during its tenure. He also exhorted the new team to work to improve the role of electronic news media so as to make it more and more public- oriented.
Ajit Anjum highlighted the need for expansion of the BEA by including editors of regional channels. For this purpose a three-member sub-committee was constituted with Sanjeev Paliwal, Rahul Kanwal and Sanjay Bragta as its members.
The BEA serves as a moral watchdog of the editorial standards being practiced across India’s news channel ecosystem.
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: 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.
