News Broadcasting
Wheres the party tonight?
CANNES: After a frenetic day one at Mipcom, replete with 23 conferences plus sessions and nearly 30 meetings per booth of the hundreds spanning the Palais, participants were still left with enough and more energy to party the night away.
Indeed, the opening night bash, organised in collaboration with The Argentine National Film Board (INCAA), was a memorable affair.
Almost everyone in the street outside was headed to the party.
With Argentina being this year’s ‘Country of Honour’, everything – right from the waiters to the performers – had a distinct Argentinian flavour to it.
A more-than-full house, some of the guests spilled over to the lawns of the Palais, nursing their drinks and engaged in animated conversation.
For those who came wearing their dancing shoes, the after party continued at Carlton Beach, well into the wee hours of the next day. With slight showers, a cool breeze, scintillating music, overflowing booze and scrumptious food, it proved to be a real stress buster.
Again, this was just one of the many parties happening at Carlton Beach around the same time; the Fox and Disney bashes prominent among them.
With three more days to go, the partying looks set to get harder…
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
