News Broadcasting
News18 Kannada Varshada Kannadiga 2021 set for 26 March
BENGALURU: The countdown has begun for Varshada Kannadiga awards, the annual signature event of News18 Kannada to be held next week. As a precursor to the event, a jury meet was held on 13 March with members comprising the who’s who of Bangalore. Every year, a jury is constituted and headed by an eminent personality. This year, the jury was chaired by the esteemed Karnataka high court former justice H N Nagamohan Das.
The jury put together had a good mix of seven eminent people from different sectors. From law enforcement, to politics, art and culture, entertainment, sports and corporate, the panel was well represented from all sectors.
The esteemed jury members were:
Prof. Doddarange Gowda, poet & lyricist.
R Ashok, revenue minister – government of Karnataka
Sudharani, Sandalwood actress
Reena Suvarna, KAS
V R Raghunath, Hockey Olympian
Sneha Rakesh, entrepreneur
The awards are divided into eight categories — literature, entertainment, public service, business, science and technology, sports. The other two categories are the Varshada Kannadiga and Lifetime Achievement award. The names were shortlisted looking at people who have performed extremely well during the year, some unrecognized and extraordinary feats of ordinary people. Under the supervision of News18 Kannada editor Siddappa Kaloji, the names were submitted by the editorial staff, and nominations from the public. These names were filtered, by the editorial and five entries were placed in front of the jury for final selection.
The roundtable saw a good amount of humour, active discussions, related anecdotes, varied opinions about nominees and their contributions – before finally reaching a consensus.
The nominees and the winners will be declared on 26 March 2021, Friday, at J W Mariott with a grand, star studded presentation ceremony.
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.
