News Broadcasting
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar speaks exclusively to Bloomberg TV India
MUMBAI: In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg TV India, the country’s leading English business news channel, Manohar Parrikar- Defence Minister, spoke for the first time after taking over as India’s defence minister. In his exclusive interview Parrikar discussed an extensive range of issues with Siddharth Zarabi – Executive Editor, Bloomberg TV India.
During the interview Parrikar emphasised on cleaning up the tainted defence procurement process and also pointed out that decision taken by UPA government of blacklisting of numerous foreign firms was the wrong approach and would be reviewed immediately by the current government. In conversation with the channel, Mr. Parrikar highlighted that corruption in India’s defence systems is nothing less an anti-national activity and he spoke about blacklisting defence contractors on immediate basis.
Commenting on blacklisting defence contractors Parrikar said, “I think there needs to be some decision on the issue of blacklisting. We need various platforms such as aerial- helicopters, planes, and there are probably few manufacturers to do that. So some sort of exercise has been carried out by my predecessor Jaitley and I intend to take it forward so that we can protect ourselves. The number of suppliers in some of the items probably is very few and we just cannot paint everyone in black. There have to be proper guidelines for blacklisting; otherwise we will run out of defence contractors/suppliers.”
Commenting on corruption in defence Parrikar said, “I consider corruption in defence as an anti-national activity. Therefore there will be transparency and every decision will be in the interest of the country. And I will tell you one thing, there may be corruption, in general, in defence procurement, but to stay with a clean image for 20 years in a small state like Goa itself is a stupendous task which I have managed to achieve. I think that is because I have the concept of transparency and how to ensure a transparent but quick decision.”
To watch the exclusive interview, log on to
http://www.btvin.com/videos/watch/9631/to-take-forward-jaitley%27s-steps-on-blacklisted-firms:-manohar-parrikar
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.
