News Broadcasting
Al Jazeera steals the show at Hong Kong Human Rights
MUMBAI: Al Jazeera Media Network is celebrating winning the highest number of awards at the 18th Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards, holding first prize for its documentary Wukan: The Flame of Democracy, an intimate portrait of the challenges a rural Chinese community faces in the midst of unprecedented political change towards becoming a fledgling democracy.
Al Jazeera’s 101 East programme also won four first-place prizes for its ‘Scars of Sri Lanka’, ‘Murder In God’s Name’, Sectarian Divide’ and ‘Unhealed Wounds Of Osh’, despite there being a record number of entries this year from across the region with 475 entries. 101 East also earned a Merit for ‘Nepal’s Slave Girls’.
At the 2014 New York Festivals International TV & Film Awards, ‘It’s A Man’s World’ recently won a Gold UNDPI award judged by a special jury from the United Nations Department of Public Information, as well as receiving two other awards: Silver in the “Best News Documentary/Special” category and Bronze in the “Current Affairs” category.
Al Jazeera also won two other Gold medals for Murder In God’s Name and Everest: 60th Anniversary, two Silvers for Nepal’s Slave Girls and Contagion, along with receiving three Finalist certificates.
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.
