I&B Ministry
Paradigms of media have expanded vastly with new media coming in: Jaitley
NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was given additional charge of Information and Broadcasting Ministry, today said the paradigms of information have expanded with the steady growth of electronic, print and digital media in the country.
He said the information scenario had changed drastically since the days when the only sources of information were Doordarshan and All India Radio.
Currently, the media landscape has seen unprecedented growth within the radio and new media streams.
He was speaking to the media after taking charge of his new portfolio. Earlier, he held a meeting with senior officials of the Ministry.
In his interaction with the media, Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who has become the Minister of State for I&B, said he would strive to fulfill the responsibilities given to him.
Meanwhile, former I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted “I enjoyed thoroughly working as MOS (IC) for I&B and MOS for Parliament Affairs; I handed over these charge with great satisfaction.”
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.
