News Broadcasting
Krishna Prasad named The Hindu’s group editorial officer
NEW DELHI: The Hindu Group Publishing, which owns The Hindu, The Hindu BusinessLine, Frontline, and Sportstar, has appointed Krishna Prasad as the group editorial officer. Prasad is the former editor-in-chief of Outlook magazine, and former editor of Vijay Times, a Times of India publication.
In a career that spans over 35 years, Prasad has taught journalism on three continents. A member of the Press Council of India, he was one of the earliest mainstream journalists who switched to digital journalism.
The veteran journalist is also known for having exposed match-fixing in Indian cricket along with Cobrapost founder Aniruddha Bahal. American political commentator and author Thomas Friedman, during his visit to India in 2004, had called Prasad ''one of the brightest young journalists in India.''
"Krishna Prasad as group editorial officer will play a guiding role on content management and strategy across all the publications, working with the editors of the various publications, digital editors, and the business and technical teams to drive THG’s digital transformation,” said The Hindu Group chairperson Malini Parthasarathy. “He will help situate content optimally across publications and ensure synergy between our product offerings. We are confident that he will help us not only build greater synergy in our content offerings but help us raise the bar in building high-quality journalism and widen our digital imagination."
Prasad said, "For 143 years, The Hindu has been India’s most trusted newspaper, respected the world over for its independence, credibility and authority. It is a real honour to be tasked with shaping its direction for the digital age while keeping journalism front and centre. I look forward to working closely with the group’s editors and journalists, business and technical teams, to future-proof the institution’s awesome legacy."
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.
