News Broadcasting
Meghashrey Foundation honours Navika Kumar with Sarvottam Nagrik Sanman 2025
MUMBAI: Navika Kumar, group editor-in-chief, Times Now & Times Now Navbharat, has been conferred with the Sarvottam Nagrik Sanman 2025, one of India’s most prestigious civilian honors, presented by Meghashrey Foundation. The award recognises her exceptional contribution to Indian journalism and her unwavering commitment to truth, integrity, and nation-building. Her fearless reporting, sharp political analysis, and leadership have helped shape informed public discourse across the nation.
The Sarvottam Nagrik Sanman celebrates individuals who have made outstanding contributions to Indian society in fields such as social work, science, education, medicine, arts, and public life. This year’s ceremony was graced by Hon’ble Union Cabinet Minister for Culture, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and Hon’ble Cabinet Minister of Maharashtra for Culture, Shri Ashish Shelar, and held at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai.
Other awardees included an illustrious list of changemakers and national icons, including, Padma Vibhushan Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Padma Bhushan Vijay Bhatkar, Padma Shri Dr. Shankar Mahadevan, filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, Padma Shri Kumar Sanu, Padma Shri Raveena Tandon, Luke Coutinho amongst others.
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.
