News Broadcasting
Govt. warns news channels against live coverage even as Gurdaspur anti-terrorist operations on
NEW DELHI: The Government today barred the media from covering the ongoing anti-terrorist operations in Gurdaspur in Punjab and said coverage will be restricted to periodic briefing by an officer designated by the appropriate government till such operation concludes.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry made it clear that ‘no programme shall be carried in the cable service, which contains live coverage of any anti-terrorist operation by security forces.’
Coming shortly on the heels of the Home Ministry directive about media covering only official briefings, the I&B Ministry said it had notified the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules 2015 in this regard.
The Ministry asked news and current affairs TV channels to stop carrying telecast of these operations without restricting themselves to periodic briefing by an officer designated by the appropriate Government, though the operations had not been concluded.
Such telecast is in clear violation of the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules 201 5, and is therefore liable for action thereunder and so these channels have been advised to desist from further violation of the rules with immediate effect.
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.
