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Bihar Elections: NDTV’s Prannoy Roy apologises for misguiding viewers

Published

10 years ago

on

MUMBAI: With something as big as the Bihar elections taking place in the Indian political scenario, the masses are glued to their television screens on counting day.

 

From being a reliable source of news to predicting trends, designing the cabinet to declaring a mandate before it actually happens, is what orchestrates the programming on news channels on the big day. It was the usual work flow, which followed in the newsroom this time too on 8 November.

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But minutes into the coverage, every dynamic was shattered as most news channels committed journalistic harakiri and had to reverse what they had been hurrahing about  merely half an hour into their coverage.
 
In the initial stages psephologists’ announced that trends were pointing to a saffron wave and to a washout of the Grand Alliance led by Nitish Kumar, which led to ecstatic celebration at Amit Shah’s residence and BJP party headquarters.
 
However, the celebrations did not last long and turned into agony when the actual results were announced.   The Grand Alliance emerged triumphant with the larger vote share of nearly 46 per cent compared to NDA’s 34 per cent.
 
On a mission to provide exclusive and quick information to grab a pie of the massive viewership on counting day, news channels seemed highly confused half way through the day. The media went on to declare BJP and its allies as sweeping the election battle in Bihar… but alas… the counting sang a totally different tune. With confusion in the press rooms across the board, viewers were none the wiser.
 
The father figure of Indian  television news broadcasting – NDTV chairman Dr Prannoy Roy felt that the Indian audiences and the diaspora that remained loyal to the news fraternity deserved an apology and explanation about the mayhem that took place.
 
“Let me start with an explanation and an apology. Now, for over more than 30 years, NDTV has tried to be the hallmark of election news and analysis. With exit polls and opinion polls, we always made the point – even when we get it spot on – that there are statistical errors that shouldn’t make them be taken too seriously. You get it right, you get it wrong sometimes – that’s the life of a pollster,” explained Roy.
 
The last time an error as big as this was made was about 32 years ago when NT Rama Rao won with a landslide. “Since then we’ve never made such a big error- we’ve made errors – but not as big as this one,” asserted Roy.
 
So what was different this time? Why was there so much chaos? “This time, like before, we tried our best with a large sample size and we went to every single constituency – which meant we didn’t have to convert votes into seats. The sample, the poll was just taken directly. But the data from the fieldwork agency, normally a very reliable agency, was incorrect and this happens. And we are looking into why this went wrong. In any case, we take responsibility and we sincerely apologise,” is the answer that Roy gave to his viewers during his bulletin.
 
Further explaining he asserted, “Secondly, on every Counting Day, all news channels get data from one agency. Again, a very globally respected agency. This morning, the first data that came in to all news channels was completely wrong. Our trend analysis was based on this data like it has been for 35 years – it’s never been wrong so far.”
 
The data showed BJP ahead and that’s what the channel mirrored, confessed Roy. “The data, unfortunately, turned out to be incorrect. All news channels had to change their data half-way. Now, this has never happened before. And we’ve asked the agency for an explanation and we’ve heard from them that they are going to write and explain what went wrong once they look into the errors,” he said.
 
Not just NDTV, almost every English national news channel got it wrong early on… from Times Now to even India Today. However, the Network18 group’s ETV and CNN-IBN clearly stated that the Grand Alliance was going to romp home.
 
Will this abysmal show wake up the television news boys? Though there are many high decibel debates that have successfully managed to grab viewers’ and hence advertisers’ attention, election coverage still remains the largest source of revenue generation for news channels. So will this performance change those dynamics too? Questions are aplenty and only time will tell if new highs or lows are in the offing.
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News Broadcasting

Rising Bharat Summit 2026 spotlights India’s global ascent

PM Modi keynotes two-day event with ministers, diplomats and icons in New Delhi.

Published

1 week ago

on

March 4, 2026

By

MUMBAI: India didn’t just host a summit, it threw a coming-out party for a nation ready to own the global stage. The News18 Rising Bharat Summit 2026, held on 27–28 February in New Delhi, emerged as a high-octane platform for ideas, vision and strategic dialogue, uniting national leadership, global policymakers, industry titans, defence strategists and cultural icons under the theme “Strength Within”.

Prime minister Narendra Modi set the tone with a keynote that framed India’s resurgence as a reclaiming of lost potential built over generations. “In previous industrial revolutions, India and the Global South were merely followers,” he said. “But in the era of Artificial Intelligence, India is a partner in decisions and shaping them.” He highlighted the country’s thriving AI startup ecosystem and the recent AI Impact Summit attended by over 100 nations.

Union minister Piyush Goyal (Commerce & Industry) stressed India’s readiness to scale exports and deepen manufacturing, while Ashwini Vaishnaw (Railways, I&B, Electronics & IT) positioned technology and infrastructure as twin engines of growth, especially in AI and digital trust. Jyotiraditya Scindia (Communications & North East Development) revealed India’s ambition to lead in 6G through the Bharat 6G Alliance and partnerships with over 30 countries.

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Global voices added depth: former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo called India’s development “self-sustaining” and strategically vital; ex-UK Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter asserted India deserves a seat at the great powers’ table; and former US Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez joined ambassadors from Norway, Germany and Sweden in discussions on geopolitical realignment, sustainability and defence preparedness.

Other speakers included veteran investor Ramesh Damani, World Gold Council CEO David Tait, Vianai Systems founder Dr Vishal Sikka, DeepTech Bharat Foundation co-founder Shashi Shekhar Vempati, defence experts Rajesh Kumar Singh, Sunil Ambekar, Patrick McGee, Tom Cooper and Adrian Fontanellaz, plus cultural and sporting icons Kangana Ranaut, Saina Nehwal, PR Sreejesh, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mithali Raj, Anil Kapoor and Yami Gautam.

The summit was supported by Jio Financial Services (Presenting Partner), Phonepe and DS Group (Co-Presenting Partners), Pernod Ricard India and Kia Seltos (Powered By & Driven By), state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand (State Partners), and associate partners including NSE, M3M Foundation and Reliance Industries.

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Broadcast live across News18 Network, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz, the event reinforced India’s image as a confident democracy and emerging global power proving that when strength comes from within, the world can’t help but watch.

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