News Broadcasting
The Trusted News Initiative forms Asia-Pac network
Mumbai: The Trusted News Initiative (TNI) partners have agreed to expand their global representation by establishing a regional Asia-Pacific network.
TNI’s new Asia-Pacific network of media organisations has received training funded by the Google News Initiative to help their journalists navigate the disinformation environment.
The TNI is an industry collaboration led by the BBC of major news and global tech organisations working together to stop the spread of disinformation where it poses a real-world risk. The Asia-Pacific network will allow the TNI’s regional partners to share their insights on combating disinformation and discuss regional trends. Through the TNI cooperative framework, they will draw on their expertise to share best practices and findings with the larger TNI and alert each other to the most dangerous forms of disinformation.
The TNI is expanding its Asia-Pacific presence with the addition of various groups of independent news organisations, including ABC (Australia), Dawn (Pakistan), Indian Express (India), Kompas (Indonesia), NDTV (India), NHK (Japan), and SBS (Australia).
BBC News International Services senior controller & BBC World Service director Liliane Landor said, “With the creation of TNI’s first regional network, we are bringing together trusted Asia-Pacific news-publishing organisations to further reinforce our collaboration and to make it even more efficient and productive.”
Google News Lab head Matt Cooke said, “As part of the Google News Initiative’s ongoing efforts to strengthen journalism and fight misinformation, we’ve worked with a range of academics, news organisations and nonprofits across the globe for several years. Now, we’re supporting the Trusted News Initiative to deliver targeted, expert training workshops on a variety of digital tools to help journalists as they seek to continue day-to-day verification and fact-checking in newsrooms across the region.”
AP, AFP, BBC, CBC/Radio-Canada, European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Financial Times, Google/YouTube, The Hindu, Information Futures Lab, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Microsoft, The Nation Media Group, Reuters, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Twitter, and The Washington Post are current TNI partners.
The TNI partnership works collectively in four main areas:
Fast alert: creating a system so organisations can alert each other rapidly when they discover disinformation that threatens human life or disrupts democracy.
Intelligence sharing: a real-time conversation of equals between news organisations and tech platforms about the evolving nature of harmful disinformation.
Media education: sharing insights and research on how audiences and users react to disinformation, thus informing best practice and supporting better digital literacy.
Engineering solutions: sharing information on engineering solutions for authentication of trusted news sources and improving the information environment.
This is entirely separate from, and does not in any way affect, the editorial stance of any partner organisation.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
