News Broadcasting
DD misses Prasar Bharati CEO Sarma’s ‘Olympic’ run
NEW DELHI: Some are saying it’s poetic justice, but it can only happen in Doordarshan.
The only broadcaster with the permission to cover the whole of the Olympic torch relay live in Delhi today, the Indian pubcaster did that, but missed covering the parent organisation’s chief executive, KS Sarma,
running with the torch. The live coverage was happening on Doordarshan Sports.
It was left to a sister channel, DD News, to have a brief clip of Sarma with the torch, mouthing words like it was a great honour for him and the
organisation to have covered a historic event.
Sarma is the CEO of Prasar Bharati, an autonomous organisation that looks after DD and All India Radio.
What could have added insult to injury is the fact DD had deployed more than half a dozen OB vans to cover extensively and live the Olympic torch relay, which not only generated a lot of hype, also huge amounts of criticism for having been hijacked by politicians and sundry celebrities, most of whom have very little to do with any kind of sports. Ironically, the “tamasha” could find no place for Indian sporting greats like Milka Singh or PT Usha.
Even Aaj Tak had a clipping of the parent company’s owner-promoter, Aroon Purie, running with the torch.
Though DD officials have been passing the buck for the lapse of missing Sarma, a source in the organisation admitted that the faux pas happened as “there was some confusion on Sarma’s timing of carrying the torch, which people down the order did not care to confirm.”
Thankfully, Sarma is said to have taken the development in his stride and despite being an officious organisation, no heads are expected to roll for this lapse.
But media experts observed that DD Sports’ coverage of the torch relay has exemplified that the organisation needs to be rejuvenated with people who can think quick and also know the difference between live coverage and recording an event for future broadcast.
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.
