News Broadcasting
Filmmaker Chen Kaige on CNN’s ‘Talk Asia’
The next edition of CNN’s chat show Talk Asia from Beijing sees the show’s host Lorraine Hahn interviews one of China’s most renowned and influential filmmakers Chen Kaige. The internationally-acclaimed director, best known for such movies as The Emperor and the Assassin and the award-winning Farewell My Concubine, discusses his latest project The Promise.
The show airs on 25 June at 8:30 am, 8 om, 10:30 pm and on 26 June at 4 pm and at 8:30 pm. Kaige says, “It’s a very significant film for me because I got a so-called Asian cast; we have a Japanese, a very famous actor named Sanada and Korean one named Dong-kun Jang and also the actors and actresses from Hong Kong as well.
“It is a love story and we have very strong entertainment elements for sure and including the kung fu stuff. I hope at the end of the day people will say, ‘So it’s great entertainment film but we also find some meanings in the film.’ That’s what I want.”
During the half-hour interview, Chen continues to chat about his inspirations, his life as a member of the famous fifth generation of filmmakers, and growing up during the Cultural Revolution in China. When asked if he considers himself a political filmmaker, he replies, “I’m not political at all but as you know that I grew up in a very, very political period of time which is the Cultural Revolution…yes, we are artists, we want to show people our piece, but at the same time we think it’s very important for us to make our points in our movies.”
Additionally, Chen talks about the challenges of being a filmmaker in China, and where he thinks the Chinese film industry is heading.
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: 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.
