News Broadcasting
Convergence bill ready for introduction in parliament
The current session of parliament will finally see the introduction of the long awaited communications convergence bill 2001. It only remains for the cabinet to meet to okay the finalised draft before it is introduced in parliament.
What will happen after the bill’s introduction remains unclear as the main opposition Congress party has been stalling proceedings ever since the controversy over the Tehelka tapes corruption expose erupted. The Congress may refuse to allow the bill’s passage or it may so happen that in the midst of all the bedlam in the house it gets cleared by default. Parliament reconvened on Monday and is in session until May 16.
The secretarial committee, headed by jurist Fali S Nariman, and made up of secretaries of the ministry of information and broadcasting, communications and law, on Saturday fine-tuned the revised draft bill, based on suggestions and directions received by the group of ministers on telecom and IT which had met last month, according to the Economic Times.
The group of ministers, headed by finance minister Yashwant Sinha, had apparently sifted through nearly 1,000 responses from the public and various associations on the draft Bill that had been put up on the Net.
The convergence bill, which has nearly 100 clauses, aims to have a common law to regulate broadcasting, telecommunications as well as the Internet.
In the normal course, the bill would be referred to a parliamentary panel on communications and then final parliamentary approval could be expected in the winter session late this year or during the budget session early next year.
Complex legislations are usually referred to lawmakers’ committees for comments and changes before being presented to parliament for final approval.
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.
