News Broadcasting
Prasar Bharati planning programme guide
NEW DELHI: In a bid to popularise programmes being broadcast on pubcasters Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR), Prasar Bharati Corporation is planning to come out with a programming guide.
The proposal has been okayed by the board of Prasar Bharati, an autonomous body that is entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the functioning of DD and AIR.
According to sources in Prasar Bharati, the proposal to have a programming guide of sorts is being fine-tuned and a final format and periodicity is being executed in active consultation with the Corporation chief executive, KS Sarma.
Other pubcasters outside India are known to have programming guides that are as glitzy and detailed as they come. BBC World, for example, has a similar product highlighting special programmes with short synopses and photographs of programmes which is mailed to a select list of persons even in India, including journalists and media planners.
Private satellite channels from time to time, of course, undertake such initiatives. Zee Telefilms, for instance, had a programming guide that was distributed through cable operators directly or indirectly associated with Zee Group cable arm, Siti Cable.
The thinking in the Prasar Bharati is that apart from getting the FPC of DD and AIR published in daily newspapers, there is a need to have a product that highlights special programmes.
“At times, some very good programmes on DD and AIR go unnoticed because of lack of adequate publicity. The programming guide or a variant of it may just go on to address such inadequacies,” a senior Prasar Bharati official told indiantelevision.com.
In the past, AIR used to bring out a product in magazine format, called Akashvani, which gave details of various programmes to be broadcast on AIR, apart from containing other related information and articles.
As and when Parasar Bharati finalises the format, the guide is likely to be mailed to government offices initially before the distribution network is expanded.
However, it is not clear at the moment whether Prasar Bharati has thought of the commercial aspect of such a product.
“Because,” points out a media planner with a foreign ad agency in Delhi, “if properly marketed and distributed such a product from Prasar Bharati has the scope of attracting substantial amount of advertising from the TV industry, apart from public service messages in ad format from various government organisations and some NGOs even.”
News Broadcasting
India Today Group sweeps top honours at Ramnath Goenka Awards
Journalists recognised for fearless investigative and civic reporting.
MUMBAI: India Today Group just turned the Ramnath Goenka Awards into its own trophy cabinet because when your reporters dig this deep, even the judges have to award a clean sweep. India Today Group journalists have secured multiple top honours at the latest edition of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, reinforcing the network’s legacy as the gold standard of Indian journalism. The awards were conferred by vice president C. P. Radhakrishnan at a ceremony held on 27 March 2026.
Sreya Chatterjee won in the ‘Investigative Reporting – Broadcast’ category for her powerful India Today TV report ‘Operation Illegals: The Alarming Rise in Bangladeshi Infiltration Across India’s Fragile Eastern Frontier’. The investigation stood out for its depth, on-ground rigour and national relevance.
In the ‘Civic Journalism – Print/Digital’ category, Sreya Chatterjee along with Arvind Ojha were honoured for their indiatoday.in report on unregulated water extraction and the ‘Tanker Mafia’ in Delhi’s Bawana Industrial Area. The story exposed critical systemic gaps and environmental challenges affecting daily life.
Additionally, aajtak.in was recognised in the ‘Investigative Reporting – Print/Digital’ category for its hard-hitting exposé ‘The Surrogate Mother Market’, which highlighted the human, legal and ethical dimensions of the surrogacy ecosystem.
India Today Group emerged as the only network honoured in Investigative Journalism across both Print/Digital and Broadcast categories. The wins reflect the strength of its multi-platform newsroom and its unwavering commitment to credible, high-impact reporting that informs public discourse and drives accountability.
In an era when speed often trumps substance, these awards remind us that the most powerful stories are still the ones dug out with courage, told with clarity, and delivered with conscience, one fearless byline at a time.
