I&B Ministry
Navin Chawla assumes charge as I&B secretary
NEW DELHI: The new information and broadcasting secretary Navin Chawla took over formally in his new posting, replacing Pawan Chopra who retired yesterday from government service.
However, unlike his minister Jaipal Reddy, Chawla did not meet the media on his first day. That he wants to keep a low profile, especially on the eve of a new Parliament session that begins tomorrow, is understandable.
On being asked for an appointment by indiantelevision.com, Chawla’s office said that he would prefer to speak to the media after about 10 days by which time he would try to get a hang of things and issues in the ministry.
Chawla, considered close to the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s family, served as a joint secretary in the I&B ministry in the mid to late 1990s period.
MUMBAI: When the numbers go silent, the noise on screen gets a little harder to measure. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has extended the suspension of television rating data for news channels, directing Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to withhold TRPs for another four weeks. The latest order, issued on March 31, 2026, builds on an earlier directive from March 6 that had paused ratings for a month. The ministry has clarified that the blackout will continue for four weeks or until further instructions are issued whichever comes earlier keeping the industry in a prolonged state of data drought.
The reasoning, officials suggest, lies far beyond domestic screens. With geopolitical tensions in West Asia continuing to escalate, the government has flagged concerns over how such developments could influence news consumption and presentation. The move is aimed at curbing excessive sensationalism and speculative coverage during what it describes as a sensitive global moment.
For the broadcast ecosystem, the absence of Television Rating Points (TRPs) is more than symbolic, it removes the industry’s primary scorecard. Ratings dictate advertising flows, shape editorial strategies and fuel the competitive pecking order among news channels. Without them, broadcasters are effectively operating without a public performance benchmark.
The timing only adds to the complexity. Amid a high-intensity global news cycle, channels must now navigate audience engagement without the weekly feedback loop that typically drives programming decisions. Advertisers, too, are left recalibrating, leaning on proxies such as brand strength, reach and distribution instead of hard viewership data.
While framed as a temporary regulatory intervention tied to maintaining public order, the extended suspension underscores a broader unease about the tone and direction of news coverage. For now, the ratings race is on pause but the battle for attention continues, just without a scoreboard.
