News Broadcasting
Police arrests TV5 editors, Editors Guild condemns irresponsible reporting
MUMBAI: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Police has arrested two senior editors of the Telugu news channel TV5 for alleging Ambani brothers’ involvement in the death of former chief minister YS Rajshekhar Reddy.
The report, citing a Russian website, was first aired by TV5 and was later broadcast on NTV and Saakshi TV. This led to attacks on Reliance groups’ outlets in Andhra Pradesh.
Reddy was killed in a helicopter crash on 2 September last year.
After the attacks, criminal cases have been filed against the two other channels also. The cases were handed over to the CID, which arrested TV5 senior executive editor Brahmananda Reddy and input editor P Venkatakrishna from their office amid protests by staff.
Meanwhile, the Editors Guild of India has expressed grave concern over “unprofessional” reporting by channels.
In its statement, the guild asked the channels to desist from “irresponsible reporting”. “Such reporting is sensational in nature and goes against the basic ethics, standards and principles of journalism,” it said while condemning such reporting.
The statement further said that “such reporting triggered some violence in certain parts of Andhra Pradesh is highly unfortunate”.
“It may be pertinent to reiterate news organsiations should exercise all possible rigour and cross-checking of fact, source and motivation of the information before disseminating it in public,” it added.
Meanwhile, both Mukesh and Anil Ambani-led companies have issued statements expressing shock at the report.
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:Â 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.
