News Broadcasting
‘Focus Asia’ correspondent Adrian Brown takes first prize at Amnesty press awards
Star’s Focus Asia correspondent Adrian Brown took first prize in the English television category of the 7th Annual Amnesty International Human Rights Press Awards in Hong Kong.
This is the third successive year that Focus Asia has walked away with the esteemed award. Focus Asia correspondent Jennifer Lee took the prize in 2001 and correspondent Susan Yu won in 2000.
The 2002 award was given in recognition of Adrian Brown’s report on Child Sexploitation, which was originally broadcast on Focus Asia in April 2001. The report detailed the problem of child prostitution in Cambodia and the inability of Cambodian authorities to crack down and manage this widespread problem. In the report, Brown interviewed an American man in jail awaiting trial on child sex charges as well as a Japanese man accused of similar offences. He also interviewed a child rights campaigner who has worked to rescue under-age girls from brothels.
Adrian Brown is an experienced television journalist and has worked in Asia since 1988. He has interviewed a number of Asian leaders for Focus Asia including former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Jim Laurie, vice-president of network news and current affairs, said: “We are extremely proud of this accomplishment by our Focus Asia correspondents. By taking our third consecutive Amnesty International Human Rights Press Award, we have proved that our talented team of correspondents rivals the best of any news team and that we are continuing to provide hard hitting and socially relevant reports affecting the Asian region.”
Focus Asia is the flagship current affairs program produced by Star’s news team in Hong Kong, exploring a wide range of social, economic and political issues across the Asia region. Indian viewers can see this hard-hitting programme on Star World every Sunday at 5:30 pm (8:00 pm Hong Kong time).
The 7th Annual Human Rights Press Awards were sponsored by Amnesty International (Hong Kong), the Foreign Correspondents’ Club and the Hong Kong Journalists Association, and announced on 8 June.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
