News Broadcasting
CNN’s new docu screams Bloody Murder
MUMBAI: From ethnic slaughters in Armenia to the Holocaust and systematic terror and violence in Cambodia, Rwanda, Iraq and Darfur, CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour reports on the recurring nightmare of genocide and the largely unknown struggles of the heroes who witnessed evil – and “screamed bloody murder” for the international community to stop it.
As the 60th anniversary of the United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide approaches, a new two-hour documentary, CNN Presents: Scream Bloody Murder will air on 5 December at 7:an, 3:30 pm, 10:30 pm on 6 December at 5:30 pm and on 7 December at 7:30 am and at 11:30 am.
Amanpour, who just celebrated her 25th year at CNN, has reported on most crises and human events from around the globe, including events in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Somalia, Rwanda and the Balkans. She has interviewed world leaders at the key moments of history as they happened and leverages this direct experience and depth of knowledge in Scream Bloody Murder. Her first-hand insights provide context to the key decisions before and during the heinous events that continue to shock the world.
Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew and lawyer, narrowly escaped the Holocaust, but his parents and 40 other members of his family perished in the slaughter. In the 1940s, Lemkin coined the term “genocide” and lobbied the then-fledgling UN for an international convention compelling nations to prevent and stop genocide.
CNN Productions VP, senior executive producer Mark Nelson says, “Lemkin hoped that the international community would ensure that genocide never happened again, but other crusaders against genocide met the same indifference and resistance Lemkin encountered. This film is about their stories – and what we can learn from them.”
Just one generation later, Father François Ponchaud, a Catholic missionary working in Cambodia, tried to alert the world to the torture and mass executions following the rise of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Ponchaud published articles, a book, and even spoke before the U.N. to urge action to stop the killing.
“No one believed us,” Ponchaud tells Amanpour in the documentary. In fewer than four years, the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror claimed the lives of nearly two million men, women and children – one fourth of Cambodia’s population.
“No one defends human rights,” the priest says in the documentary. “Governments are cold beasts looking out for their own interests.”
Amanpour also reports on what many consider to be the first genocide of the 21st century: Darfur. Eric Reeves, a Smith College professor and one of the founders of the grassroots activism to end genocide in Darfur says, “There was no lack of information, there was no lack of understanding, there was a lack of will to stop genocide – year after year after year.”
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.
