News Broadcasting
KBC 2013 gets its first Female Crorepati of the season
MUMBAI: ‘Aap crorepati ban gayi hain’ resonated one last time on the sets of India’s most loved quiz game show Kaun Banega Crorepati as host Amitabh Bachchan congratulated hot seat contestant Firoz Fatma. Hailing from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Firoz Fatma is the first female contestant this season to walk away with the most desired title, that of a ‘Crorepati’ on this life changing game show.
A BSc. Student, Firoz never wanted her sister to stop her studies, so she sacrificed her education due to financial problems. She participated in the game show to win a certain amount to pay off her deceased father’s loan. On the second last day of the game, Firoz had lost all her hopes to make it to the hot seat. But her knowledge which she gathered only by reading newspapers and watching news channels helped her reach the most celebrated hot seat.
After winning a crore an excited Firoz said, “I was very nervous when I wasn’t able to make it to the hot seat in the second last episode and felt I have to go home empty handed. But then I aced the fastest finger first round and made my way to the hot seat. Also, I didn’t feel as the 1 Crore winner until the audience clapped and Bachchanji hugged me. It is a great feeling”.
With the winning amount, Firoz wants to help her family get rid of the loan and study further. She also wants her mother to live a tension free life.
Tune in to witness the excitement of the first female Crorepati of the season on Sunday 1st December, 8:30pm only on Sony Entertainment Television
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
