News Broadcasting
BBC takes ‘fake news’ battle global
MUMBAI: The BBC today sets out its ambition to be a global leader in the fight against fake news, which is creating a huge decline in global audiences’ trust in media.
The BBC’s World Service Group will spearhead this work, putting a major focus on Global Media Literacy, and culminating in a major live global broadcast bringing together young people from around the world to discuss how trust can be restored. Plans include:
· Extending the BBC’s Reality Check service to more parts of the world.
· Bringing together fact checking stories from different countries on a Global Fake News page, giving them wider circulation and bigger impact.
· Rolling out materials educating about fake news to schools and audiences around the world.
· Organising a major full-day fake news event where teenagers from around the world will be brought together in a live broadcast to talk about the challenges they face in their home countries in assessing news, sharing ideas about solutions for the future. It will feature on the World Service, World News as well as the Victoria Derbyshire Show and Newsround in the UK.
BBC News and Current Affairs, Director, Fran Unsworth said: “The BBC has already been doing a lot to tackle the scourge of fake news through Reality Check fact-checking claims and coming to a judgment, or our journalists going into schools in the UK to educate youngsters.
“But this is a global problem. It’s vital people have access to news they can trust – and know how to distinguish between fact and fiction. Broadcasters and the rest of the news industry have a responsibility to tackle fake news, and I want to use the BBC’s global reach to lead the way.”
Fake news is a huge global issue. During the Italian election, there were social media claims that a government minister attended the funeral of a mafia boss when in fact it was a photo of her at the funeral of the victim of a racist attack. In Macedonia teenagers have made money from advertising by setting up sensationalist fake news sites. And a young girl believed to be trapped in the ruins after the Mexico earthquake last year never actually existed.
Around the world too there is already work underway to hold power to account. BBC Persian has a journalist dedicated to checking claims made by Iranian authorities, as well as responding to audience queries; BBC Russian does rapid fact-checking of government speeches; BBC Monitoring does all of this as its daily bread and butter.
Now the aim is to turbo charge this and make a much bigger impact globally.
The single day live broadcast will be co-ordinated from London and include broadcasts from Beirut, Nairobi and Mumbai or Delhi. It will see teenagers talking about the challenges they face in their home countries in assessing news. They will share their thinking about solutions for the future. It will have the flavour of a global School Report, with young people leading the debate and the journalism, supported by BBC journalists and in house experts in their region.
It will include the findings of a global survey on media trust issues, and we will produce a clickable map of fake news stories allowing audiences to see a heatmap of disinformation around the world.
Building on the work that has already been done by School Report, and BBC Hindi, through the year we will also be developing materials that can be rolled out globally to help young people combat fake and false news and information. They will guide our audiences through questions such as: “What is Fake News?” “Who do you Trust?” “How to assess content?” It will include online videos and workshop materials.
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.
