News Broadcasting
CNN Intl’s new initiative looks at technological innovations of the future
MUMBAI: With a view to offering a broad picture on how technological changes of the future will affect people’s personal and professional lives, news broadcaster CNN International is launching CNN Future Summit. This is a forum that brings together prominent personalities in an interactive process to explore how innovation and technology will shape our lives in years to come.
This is a two-year multi-media programme aims at stimulating global discussion on new developments in medicine and health, communications, the environment and new habitat, and the implications of these changes for the future of mankind.
CNN International senior VP Rena Golden says, “CNN Future Summit demonstrates our commitment to preparing viewers for the events of the future by providing insights into the issues that affect our world today. In addition, this initiative is set to engage our viewers in global dialogue and will prove as significant in inspiring people’s vision for the future.”
The centerpiece of the initiative will be four televised roundtable discussions to be held in Singapore, hosted by CNN anchor Michael Holmes. Each roundtable focusses on one area of technology that is shaping the future. A nominating committee of respected experts will select a panel of global leaders in a specific field to discuss the promises, challenges and controversies sparked by their innovations.
The initiative also provides a dedicated website, featuring interviews with the visionaries, profiles of the nominating committee, and details of the issues discussed. Viewers are encouraged to participate in the discussions through the website, offering their thoughts and insights, suggesting potential panelists and issues to be debated.
The first topic of this global dialogue is Of Man And Machine. With genetic engineering, stem cell research, robotics and cybernetics offering the promise of dramatically reshaping the human machine, this program will explore the impact of these developments on societies around the world.
Through the dedicated website: http://cnn.com/futuresummit, viewers around the world will be able to explore the views of the remarkable list of leading scientists, philosophers, entrepreneurs, futurists, authors, and journalists. Among them: Dr. Alan Colman, one of the team that cloned Dolly the sheep; astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and Ray Kurzweil, futurist/inventor/author. (A complete list of the nominating committee and their profiles can be found on this website)
Highlighting the focus of the CNN Future Summit, Professor Balasubramanian, currently the director of research at the Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation, in Hyderabad, India and also a member of the CNN Future Summit Committee, said, “The role of scientists as interpreters to society about advances in stem cell therapy, genetics and such is vital. Dialog between us and ethicists, religious leaders and sociologists must occur in periodic intervals. That is the only way.”
A final list of panelists will be named in mid-May. They will gather in Singapore for the roundtable to be aired on CNN International on 15 June.
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.
