News Broadcasting
MRUCI elects Shashi Sinha as chairman, Shailesh Gupta as VC
Mumbai: Mediabrands India CEO Shashi Sinha and Jagran Prakashan director Shailesh Gupta have been unanimously elected as chairman and vice-chairman of Media Research Users Council India (MRUCI), respectively, for the year 2021-22. The announcement was made at MRUCI’s board meeting which was held shortly after its AGM.
Sinha takes up the baton from Sakal Media Group chairman Pratap Pawar, who served as MRUCI’s chairman for two consecutive terms – from 2019-20 and 2020-21.
While passing the baton, Pawar thanked all the board members and stakeholders and congratulated Sinha and the new board members. “We faced some challenging times due to the global pandemic, but I am glad we are soon returning to normalcy. With the change in name from Media Research Users Council (MRUC) to Media Research Users Council India (MRUCI), and the modification of IRS questionnaire, we will not only further boost our national stature and representation, but also successfully meet the fast-evolving needs and expectations of our stakeholders,” he said.
New members have also been appointed to the board of governors:
1. Sakal Media Group, chairman, Pratap Pawar.
2. ABP Pvt Ltd, CEO, Dhruba Mukherjee.
3. MM Publications, executive editor & director, Jayant Mammen Mathew.
Sinha is actively involved in various industry bodies such as the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), The Ad Club, Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC). He is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and IIM Bangalore. An industry veteran with over 30 years of experience, where he has built a highly awarded team of professionals and organisations that today form the country’s leading media network.
Sinha in his vote of thanks said, “I thank Pawar for his selfless leadership and valuable guidance, especially in these unprecedented times. MRUCI has long played a very crucial role in providing the industry with reliable, robust and realistic data, and now more than ever, the industry looks toward us to meet their expectations in maintaining and propagating the highest possible standards of integrity, fairness, and reliability in media research. As our Country slowly resumes to normalcy, our priority will be to begin the IRS fieldwork at the soonest, in consideration with the ground realities.”
Over the last 25 years, Jagran’s Gupta has provided a new dimension to Jagran’s marketing strategy and has been at the heart of driving transformational change at the Jagran group.
He held several positions at leading industry bodies – elected as the youngest member of the managing committee of the Audit Bureau of Circulation for the year 2004-05, he was ABC chairman in 2012-13 and chairman of INS during 2019-20.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
