News Broadcasting
Lille Dialogues set for 24 March under Series Mania Forum
Mumbai: Series Mania’s president Rodolphe Belmer and founder & general director Laurence Herszberg have announced the guests of honor for the 2022 Lille Dialogues. Lille Dialogues is all set for 24 March and this year, the summit is themed around ‘Empowering the Audiovisual Industry with Creativity.’
The one-day summit brings together European lawmakers and international TV industry leaders to encourage joint reflection on the challenges facing the industry and to promote international cooperation. Sharing the idea behind this year’s theme, Herszberg said, “now more than ever, our goal is to promote a culture that fosters pluralism, diversity, and social cohesion.”
Belmer added that creativity is the starting point for the influential stories that end up on our screens, therefore, it’s an essential topic to explore in the industry. “We look forward to welcoming our esteemed guests to Lille to share their ideas and expertise,” Belmer said.
The event, which is part of the ‘French Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2022,’ is organised in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, the CNC, and the European Commission. The 2022 edition will feature panel discussions, plus several keynotes delivered by top industry executives, exploring the crucial role of creativity in the international audiovisual industry and asking the question of who governs it.
Meanwhile, the hotly anticipated Series Mania Forum is set to unwind between 22 and 24 March within the fifth Lille-based edition of the Series Mania Festival.
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.
