News Broadcasting
Republic Media provides proof of its innocence in TRP rigging charges
NEW DELHI: Republic Media Network has come out with a statement in which it is claiming a thumping victory against the “fake news propaganda being spread by the Mumbai police about it being found guilty of rigging viewership ratings.”
Republic CEO Vikas Khanchandani has in his possession an official email from the viewership ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) in which it has said “there is not a single complaint or malpractice found against Republic TV, Republic Bharat or any other affiliate of the news network.”
The Arnab Goswami founded news network has been claiming from day one of the TRP rigging press conference organised by the Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh that the law keeper has been perpetrating vendetta against him.
The Republic Media release states that the email “crumbles the pack of lies floated and repeated over the last nine days by Param Bir Singh and a section of the media.”
The statement mentions that Republic Media received an email from BARC on 17 October 2020, in which the agency has stated that: “If there was any disciplinary action initiated under the said Code against M/s ARG Outlier Media Private Ltd., then BARC India would have communicated the same to you along with necessary documents for your response.”
With this documentary evidence by BARC out in the public domain, Republic says that three things have been proven:
· The Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh’s comments against Republic TV were “blatantly false, lies and an extension of political vendetta. It is now incumbent on him to apologise for his lie-ridden campaign against India’s Number 1 news network.”
· That every word uttered across certain sections of the media is false, unsubstantiated and fake news. “Now that the truth is out in the public domain, the onus is now on those portals to correct themselves, apologise for the fake news and put out the truth.”
· The Republic Media Network which runs on the highest professional and journalistic standards has been “vindicated after a nine day slander campaign curated by vested interests and we have been duly informed that there was never a case against us.”
The news network has demanded that serious action needs to be taken against the police commissioner as well as the political masters behind him, should they be involved for going on a tirade against it based on a series of lies. It says that it is going to fight against any forces and come out unscathed, no matter how hard the Mumbai police or anyone else tries to intimidate and harass it. “We will comply with the law of the land, but not for a moment give in to the coercive attempts to shut down our pursuit for truth through our journalism. We will fight this campaign both in the courts of law and the court of public opinion, with the people of India by our side,” the statement further says.
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.
