News Broadcasting
Eight Indian broadcast journalists win Cardiff scholarship
MUMBAI: With the impending explosion of news channels in the country from the likes of Sahara and NDTV there has been an understandable spurt of enthusiasm among youngsters in the field of broadcast journalism. Eight Indian journalists have received a kickstart to their careers courtesy a Chevening Scholarship. They will attend a 12-week broadcast journalists programme at Thomson Foundation, University of Cardiff.
The scholars were selected from hundreds of applications from all over India. They include Star News’ Sidharth Datta, CNBC’s Supriya Unni, DD News’ Chitra Joshi and Aaj Tak’s Rica Roy,
An official release informs that The Chevening Scholarships Programme is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK government and managed by the British Council. The scholarships provide an opportunity to study in the UK.
The broadcast journalists programme runs from 23 June to 12 September 2003. The Chevening programme began in 1987 and has supported over 1,600 Indian scholars to date. India currently has the second largest annual number of Chevening scholars in the world, with an annual budget of 1.5 million, supporting up to 120 scholarships every year.
The Chevening scholarship programme comprises a range of short-term tailor-made professional courses and long-term academic courses tenable at various higher education institutions in the UK. The Chevening awards are fully funded awards, which cover the entire tuition fee and living expenses for the selected scholar for the duration of the award, which normally varies from four weeks to 12 months.
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.
