News Broadcasting
Taking news back to the floor: Outside Source launches on BBC World News TV
MUMBAI: The BBC’s new global news programme, Outside Source goes live next week, testing new ground in TV news presentation.
The new half hour week day show will begin broadcasting live on BBC World News TV from Monday, February 17th at 12.30pm. The innovative programme, presented by Ros Atkins, embraces the technology available in the BBC’s new Broadcasting House in London, moving news presentation away from the traditional studio environment.
Using a bespoke touch screen, Ros is able to bring audiencesthe latest on the stories of the day. From his base position in the heart of the BBC’s state of the art news room he is able to share packages as they are filed by correspondents out in the field, monitor instant reactions on social media and show live feeds of a developing story, all at the swipe of the screen.
Outside Source will use a combination of fixed cameras and radio cameras and will be the first programme to use multiple radio cameras out of new Broadcasting House. This will allow Ros to present segments of the show live from anywhere in the building.
Moving out of the studio means the show can tap in to the wealth of experience provided across the BBC’s language services such as BBC Persian, also based in Broadcasting House.Audiences can thenhear direct from teams as they work on developing stories and learn the latest updates.
Outside Source aims to open up the news process, enabling people to discover the latest on the stories that matter to them. A version of the programme began broadcasting on BBC World Service Radio in October and following the launch of the TV show work will begin on developing the online offer for BBC.com
Recognising the impact social media now plays in journalism, Outside Source will also connect with BBC Trending (#bbctrending), the new online and radio offering which explains the stories the world is sharing.Plus audiences will be encouraged to engage with Outside Source both during and outside of the broadcasts, using the twitter handle @bbcos.
Outside Source presenter Ros Atkins said:
“I’m incredibly excited this show has come together. It’s taking BBC News into new territory and allowing us to maximise the vast resources of New Broadcasting House. We have journalists working in 28 different languages, and because I am broadcasting in the newsroom, I can reach the right people on the most important stories as quickly as possible. It will be real-time news in which stories evolve as we combine our latest information and expertise with everyone else’s. The OS touchscreen also allows me to share exactly what information, pictures and analysis is available to us at any one time. It’s like no other TV news programme I’ve seen, and I’m thrilled to be hosting it.”
Richard Porter, Controller of English, Global News, said: “Outside Source is about opening up the process of telling stories. It moves away from the news reader presenting to the audience in a traditional studio environment towards engaging with viewers and inviting them to be part of what is going on; sharing what they know about the stories that matter to them. We are breaking new ground by deconstructing a news bulletin, while still providing the reliable and authoritative coverage our global audience expects.”
Outside Source will launch on BBC World News on Monday February 17th at 12.30pm and will be broadcast live Monday to Thursday.
Notes to Editors: The BBC attracts a weekly global audience of 256 million people to its international news services including BBC World Service, BBC World News television channel and bbc.com/news.
BBC World Service is an international multimedia broadcaster, delivering a wide range of language and regional services on radio, TV, online and via wireless handheld devices. It uses multiple platforms to reach its weekly audience of 192 million globally, including shortwave, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels. Its news sites include audio and video content and offer opportunities to join the global debate. BBC World Service offers its multilingual radio content to partner FM stations around the world and has numerous partnerships supplying content to news websites, mobile phones and other wireless handheld devices as well as TV channels. For more information, visit bbc.com/worldservice
BBC World News and bbc.com/news, the BBC’s commercially funded international 24-hour news and information platforms, are owned and operated by BBC Global News Ltd, a member of the BBC’s commercial group of companies. BBC World News is available in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, and over 360 million households and 1.8 million hotel rooms. The channel’s content is also available on 173 cruise ships, 53 airlines and 23 mobile phone networks. For further information on how to receive BBC World News, download schedules or find out more about the channel, visit bbc.com/tvschedule. bbc.com is one of the most respected brands on the internet and the global news content on the site offers up-to-the minute international news and in-depth analysis for PCs, tablets and mobile devices to more than 58 million unique users each month.
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.
