News Broadcasting
Editors Guild of India, PCI condemn attack on Arnab Goswami
MUMBAI: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) and Press Council of India (PCI) have strongly condemned the alleged attack on Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and his wife Samyabrata Ray by two people on a bike late Wednesday night, 22 April.
EGI in its statement said: “Any physical attack, instigation for hate or verbal abuse hurled against any journalist is a reprehensible act. The freedom to express one’s views or report facts without any fear or intimidation whatsoever is the most fundamental tenet of journalism.”
The guild has asked the Mumbai police to book those who had attacked the editor and his wife.
Goswami, during a live debate show on Monday, resigned from the membership of EGI while discussing the Palghar lynching incident. He accused EGI of promoting fake news by a few media outlets and keeping mum on the recent lynching in Maharashtra’s Palghar district.
PCI, condemning the attack on Goswami and his wife, said: “Every citizen in the country including a journalist has the right to express their opinion which may not be palatable to many but this does not give anybody the authority to strangulate such voice.”
“Violence is not the answer even against bad journalism,” it said and urged the state government to apprehend the perpetrators of the crime and bring them to justice immediately.
“While taking suo motu cognisance in the matter, the PCI’s chairman has directed the government of Maharashtra, through the chief secretary and commissioner of police, Mumbai to submit a report on the facts of the case at the earliest,” the statement reads.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
