News Broadcasting
Uday Shankar takes charge as editor of Star News
MUMBAI: Former TV Today Television Network news director Uday Shankar had his first day at the office today as he formally took charge as editor and director of news at Star News.
Shankar took over from incumbent news director Sanjay Pugalia who, according to Star News president Ravina Raj Kohli, would be concentrating for the present on managing the election coverage of the channel.
As the content head of Star News, Shankar would be based in Mumbai, though there are talks of refurbishing the Delhi bureau too, by inducting some more senior people.
Kohli says Shankar’s broad brief is to carry forward the channel tag line “pace, punch, credibility and impact”, with the ultimate aim of pivoting Star News into the Number 1 position in the news sweepstakes.
Just getting Shankar may not ensure that Aaj Tak can be toppled from the top slot as the success story of the channel, which has garnered over 50 per cent of the market share, would be a difficult ballgame to replicate even by Shankar. A journalist by profession, Shankar has worked in several media houses, including the Zee News.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
