News Broadcasting
CNN Freedom Project and Tony Maddox honoured by US State Department
MUMBAI: The U.S. State Department has honoured CNN International executive vice president and managing director Tony Maddox and the CNN Freedom Project as a 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report Hero.
The eight Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report Heroes are announced in conjunction with the annual TIP Report by the State Department, which assesses the response of 188 countries and territories to the crime of human slavery. Secretary of State John Kerry presented the honours at a ceremony in Washington D.C.
“I am humbled by this recognition,” said Maddox. “I am proud of CNN using the full range of our international resources to track and highlight this important story,” he added.
Spearheaded by Maddox, CNN International launched the CNN Freedom Project in 2011 to shine a spotlight on modern slavery. The project has sought to amplify the voices of survivors, highlight effective prevention and victim assistance efforts, and investigate the criminal enterprises involved. Now in its fifth year, the CNN Freedom Project is among the most successful and highly visible programming initiatives on CNN International. Under Maddox’s leadership, it has also become the longest running awareness and investigative campaign on modern slavery on television news.
Under Maddox’s leadership, CNN International has enlisted dozens of correspondents and crews around the world, and has published more than 400 investigative stories. Various NGOs report that CNN Freedom Project stories have contributed to changing laws and corporate policies, led to more than 1,000 survivors receiving assistance and sparked over $24 million in donations to anti-trafficking organization. Additionally, the CNN Freedom Project has inspired new NGOs and grassroots campaigns around the world.
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: 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.
