CNN-News18

CNN-IBN

Country	India
Network	CNN
Headquarters	Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Programming
Language(s)	English
Ownership
Owner	Network 18 Turner International India
Key people	Rajdeep Sardesai Editor in chief Sagarika Ghose Senior Editor Anchor

Cable News Network-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN) is a service of TV18 Broadcast Ltd (a subsidiary of Network18) and Time Warner Inc, a US-based Media and Entertainment Company. It is an English News Channel, providing news from India and around the World. Headquartered in Noida, the channel is supported by more than 20 bureaus nationwide. Led by Rajdeep Sardesai, CNN-IBN boasts of the most robust team of news professionals. The channel is broadcast in the United Kingdom as News 18 India on the British Sky Broadcasting satellite platform - Channel 573.

History

Cable News Network-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN) was launched on 16 December 2005 in India. It came into existence as a result of a partnership between TV18 Broadcast Limited (Formerly, Global Broadcast News) and Turner International (Turner) in India. TV18 Broadcast Ltd runs the channel completely but uses the CNN brand name. Since its inception, the channel has been reaching out to an average of 45 million households every day.

Personalities

CNN-IBN has a number of program hosts, news anchors, correspondents and contributors who appear daily on the channel.

Raghav Bahl

Raghav Bahl is the Controlling Shareholder and Managing Director of Network18. Raghav began his career as a management consultant with A.F. Ferguson & Co. followed by a stint with American Express Bank before he launched TV18, his production house. Winner of the Sanskriti Award for Journalism in 1994, he has over 24 years of experience in television and journalism. He founded TV18 (now Network18 Group) in the year 1993.

Raghav was hailed as a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. He was also selected by Ernst & Young as 'Entrepreneur of The Year (2007) for Business Transformation'. Raghav has been awarded the AIMA award for the Media Person of the Year in 2011 and BMA recognized him as the ‘Entrepreneur of The Year (2011). He has been conferred with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil), Honoris Causa by Amity University, Uttar Pradesh (2011).

Raghav has been instrumental in crafting successful Joint Ventures with media giants like CNBC, NBC Universal, Viacom, Time Warner, Forbes, A&E Networks and GS Homeshopping (Korea).

An Economics graduate from St. Stephens College, he has done his MBA from the University of Delhi.

Raghav has also authored the book ‘S U P E R P O W E R? The Amazing Race Between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise’.

Rajdeep Sardesai

Rajdeep Sardesai is the Editor-in-Chief, IBN Network that includes CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat. He comes with over 22 years of journalistic experience, during which he has covered major national and international stories, specialising in national politics. Prior to setting up the IBN network, he was the Managing Editor of both NDTV 24X7 and NDTV India and was responsible for overseeing the news policy for both the channels. He has also worked with The Times of India for six years and was the city editor of its Mumbai edition at the age of 26. He has won numerous awards for journalistic excellence, including the prestigious Padma Shri in 2008, the International Broadcasters Award for coverage of the 2002 Gujarat riots and the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award for 2007.

His flagship show on CNN-IBN, India at 9, was awarded the Best News Show at the Asian Television Awards, 2010. He has been ‘News Anchor of the Year’ at the Indian Television Academy for seven of the last eight years. He has also been the President of the Editors Guild of India, the only television journalist to hold the post and was chosen a Global leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2000. An alumnus of St Xavier's College, Mumbai, he has done his Masters and LLB from Oxford University, and has also played first class cricket for the Oxford University team. He has contributed to several books and writes a fortnightly column that appears in several newspapers.

Dilip Venkatraman

Dilip Venkatraman is the Chief Executive Officer of CNN-IBN and IBN7. Dilip is responsible for the strategic, financial and operational management of CNN-IBN and IBN7. In his earlier role he was responsible for all marketing operations for all existing and upcoming IBN channels & managing the overall operations of IBN Focus, the alternative media solutions unit that develops context for brands through customized content, using a 360 degrees approach. Dilip has over 19 years of corporate experience, of which 3 years were in the US. Prior to joining TV18 Broadcast Ltd. (formerly GBN), he held key positions at India Today and the Zee Network. He was the Head of Brand Management at Zee News and the President of Marketing for Dish TV. He also spent over a year as the CEO of Pugmarks, a technology company. He is also the man behind the Zee News LED News tickers that won him the coveted 'Indian Marketing Award'. He won the prestigious "News CEO of the Year at the Exchange4media News Broadcast Awards 2011"

He is a Graduate in Public Administration, and has completed his management Programme from IIM Bangalore, and the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School, Boston.

Sagarika Ghose

Sagarika Ghose is an Indian journalist and author with over 18 years of experience in journalism. With CNN-IBN since 2006, she has been a prime time anchor and Deputy Editor covering politics extensively. Her flagship show, Face the Nation is a hard, provocative show where she addresses a current issue and puts it to the test with a panel and gauges public mood.

Prior to working with CNN-IBN, Sagarika worked with publications like The Times of India, Outlook Magazine and The Indian Express. In 2004 she became the first woman to anchor the popular BBC programme ‘Question Time India’. Sagarika received her Bachelor's degree in History from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. A recipient of the Rhodes scholarship, she also gained a Bachelor's in Modern History from Magdalen College and an M.Phil from St Antony's College at Oxford.

Suhasini Haider

Suhasini Haider is the Deputy Foreign Affairs Editor and a prime time anchor with CNN-IBN. Suhasini hosts ‘World View’, CNN-IBN’s signature show on International Affairs. She is a regular columnist on Indian Foreign Policy and Strategic Issues for various national dailies. Over the course of her 17-year career, Suhasini has covered stories and conflicts from the most diverse regions including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Libya, Lebanon and Syria. In India, she has covered the external affairs beat for over a decade and her domestic assignments include in-depth reportage from Kashmir. In 2011 she won the Indian Television Academy - GR8! Award for 'Global News Coverage', and the ‘ENBA' Award for Best Spot News Reporting from Libya. In 2010, she won the 'Best TV News Presenter' in News Television Awards. Suhasini is the only journalist to have interviewed the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his family, a show that won the prestigious Indian Television Academy award as 'Best Chat show' for the year.

Anubha Bhosle

Anubha Bhosle, is a Senior Editor and Senior Special Correspondent. She has reported equally from the sub-zero battlegrounds of Kargil and the quaking grounds of Gujarat. She has been the face of ‘The Citizen Journalist Show’ on CNN-IBN since its inception. She is a Post Graduate in Social Communication from Sophia College, Mumbai and has done her Bachelors in Journalism from Delhi University.

Karan Thapar

Karan Thapar is a Senior Anchor and Journalist with CNN-IBN. Trained as a correspondent, producer, editor and presenter with London Weekend Television in the United Kingdom, where he worked for programmes as varied as Weekend World, The World This Week, The Business Programme, The Walden Interview and Eastern Eye, he has both the most varied and the most in-depth knowledge and experience of television current affairs programme. Karan anchors The Last Word, a first-of-its-kind daily debate show on Indian television, where Karan discusses the everyday news. Devil’s Advocate is another show on which Indian and international stalwarts from various walks of life are questioned by Karan Thapar.

Gaurav Kalra

Gaurav Kalra has been producing sports content on television for over a decade. He started his career at Trans World International where for four years he worked on a variety of programming including magazine shows, news bulletins and live broadcasts. In his next role at Quintus, Gaurav produced a series of programming under the Wisden brand name, including the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century and the Wisden Awards. Gaurav joined CNN-IBN as Sports Editor in 2005 and has hosted a whole range of programming on the entire gamut of sports ever since. He has also won a host of awards in the span of his career.

Rajeev Masand

Rajeev Masand is a film critic and the Entertainment Editor for CNN-IBN. He has had an accomplished media career spanning 16 years covering the Indian entertainment industry. A graduate from Mumbai University, Rajeev started reporting at the age of 16 at The Times of India. He held several key positions such as Assistant Editor at The Indian Express, Special Correspondent and Film Critic at Star News to name a few. He also pushes the envelope of innovation on Now Showing on CNN-IBN, which is characterized by tremendous interactivity, viewer participation, online communities, and user-generated discussion.

Karma Paljor

Karma Paljor has been a journalist for over 11 years. Having started with The Times of India in Mumbai, he moved to CNBC-TV18 in 2001. Apart from covering national and political stories for the channel, Paljor also anchored the breakfast show on CNBC-TV18. He bagged the Chevening Scholarship for Broadcast Journalism in 2004. Paljor also did a half-hour programme on the problems plaguing the aviation sector in India in 2006, following which the civil aviation ministry suggested several changes including, an overhaul of infrastructure at Air Traffic Controls across India. Apart from various daily news shows, Paljor anchors India Positive, a show that showcases stories of courage, hope, harmony and peace.

Smitha Nair

Smitha Nair is currently the Mumbai Bureau Chief and a prime-time anchor with CNN-IBN. Prior to this, she was a special correspondent, Political Bureau. A graduate in Economics/Commerce along with a Post Graduate diploma in Journalism, Smitha was a CNN Journalism Fellow in the year 2009. She loves books, sports and cinema. If she wasn't a journalist, she says she would have been a constitutional lawyer or a filmmaker.

Cyrus Broacha

Cyrus Broacha is a TV anchor, theatre personality, political satirist, columnist and author. He is also a stand-up comedian and prankster, best known for his show The Week That Wasn't on CNN-IBN, a show that lightens up your weekends with pun-a-minute approach. The show is a 30 minute spoof on the major news events of the week.

Bhupendra Chaubey

Starting his career with NDTV, Bhupendra Chaubey has been a journalist for the past 12 years. A graduate in Mathematics and post graduate in films, Bhupendra has been among the finest political journalists of his generation having covered two general elections and assembly elections of all states. He is amongst those journalists who depend more on their ground political awareness supplementing it with academic awareness of issues that confront the nation.

Initiatives

The channel has been a ‘thought leader’ and has started several initiatives that include CNN-IBN Indian of the Year, Real Heroes, Citizen Journalist Awards, Young Indian Leaders, India Positive Awards, State of the Nation (channel’s flagship bi-annual poll), to name a few. CNN-IBN is the first news channel in India to have introduced the concept of ‘Citizen Journalism’, which encourages citizens to send in their reports/views on issues important to them.

Awards initiated by CNN-IBN

CNN-IBN hosts a number of awards that recognize those individuals who have brought about a change in society or have overcome obstacles and risen in the face of adversity. There are different awards that honour people across various fields and from various strata of society. These awards include 'CNN-IBN Indian of the Year', 'Real Heroes', 'Young Indian Leaders', 'Citizen Journalist Awards', and 'India Positive Awards'.

Awards and Recognition

Indian Television Academy Awards

The Indian Television Academy Awards, also known as the ITA Awards is an annual event organised by the Indian Television Academy. The awards are presented in various categories, including popular programming (music, news, entertainment, sports, travel, lifestyle and fashion), best television channel in various categories, technical awards, and best performance awards.

2006

• Best English News Channel
• Best TV Host - Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best Editing - Koteshwar Rao
• Best TV Documentary – Rasika Tyagi

2007

• Best English News Channel
• Best Lifestyle Show - Living It Up
• Best Editing – Koteshwar Rao
• Best Travel Based Show - What's Cool on Holiday
• Best Anchor (Male) - Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best News Anchor – Cyrus Broacha

2008

• Best English News Channel
• Best Comedy Serial - The Week That Wasn't
• Best Actor, Comedy - Cyrus Broacha
• Best Anchor, News/Current Affairs Show - Rajdeep Sardesai for the weekend edition with Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best News/Current Affairs Show - Weekend Edition with Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best Talk/Chat Show - State of the Environment
• Best Cookery Show - Secret Kitchen
• Best Editing Award – Koteshwar Rao

2009

• Best Anchor, Talk/Chat Show (Male) - Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best News/Current Affairs Show - The Citizen Journalist Show
• Best Actor, Comedy - Cyrus Broacha

2010

• Best English News Channel
• Best Anchor, News/Current Affairs Show for 'Ground Zero Bhopal' - Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best Talk/Chat Show - Children's Day Special at 7 RCR
• Best News/Current Affairs Show - Killed in the Name of Honour - 30 Minutes

2011

• Best English News Channel: CNN-IBN
• Best Anchor - News/Current Affairs Show: Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best Actor Comedy: Cyrus Broacha
• Best TV Documentary: 30 Minutes
• Best Cookery Show: Secret Kitchen

2012

• News Cinematographer: Prakasam (Mad About Frogs)
• Coverage of Lokpal Bill
• Best News Channel Website: IBNlive.com
• Daily Prime Time Newscast: India@9
• News Documentary – Limited Episodes: 30 Minutes, My Child is Gay
• Current Affairs Feature: 30 Minutes, Irom’s 10-Year Fast
• Lifestyle & Fashion News Show: Secret Kitchen – Men Can Cook
• Entertainment Feature: Bollywood Blockbusters – Music Maestros – Madan Mohan
• Sports News Show: Kings of Cricket
• Sports Feature: Champions of the World (Documentary)
• Best-Presented Popular News Show: India@9
• Show on Social/Environment Awareness/Social Development Campaign: Citizen Journalist
• Sports News Show Presenter: Meha Bhardwaj
• Young TV Journalist: Parikshit Luthra
• PROMO, DESIGN & PACKAGING AWARDS
• Promo Campaign by a News Channel: Citizen Journalist Films (AB Bol)
• Promo for a Channel: State of the Nation
• Channel Packaging of the Year: CNN-IBN
• Best English News Channel
• Rajdeep Sardesai – Best Anchor-News / Current Affair Show

The Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards

The Awards aim to celebrate excellence in journalism, recognize courage and commitment and showcase outstanding contributions of individuals every year. The most prestigious annual event in the Indian media calender, it pays tribute to journalists from Print & Broadcast, who maintain the highest standards of their profession despite being in the face of political and economic pressures, who still manage to produce work that generates and sustains public trust in the media and impact the lives of people.

2006-2007

• Excellence in Journalism Award for Uncovering India Invisible (Broadcast) -

Nilanjana Bose

• Excellence in Journalism Award for Environmental Reporting (Broadcast)-

Bahar Dutt

• Excellence in Journalism Award for Political Reporting (Broadcast)- Rohit Khanna
• Journalist of the Year (Broadcast) - Rajdeep Sardesai

2007-2008

• Uncovering India Invisible – Mridu Bhandari
• Film & Television Journalism – Vaishali Sood
• Sports Journalism – Rudraneil Sengupta
• Reporting from North-East - V K Sashikumar

2008-2009

• Reporting from J&K and Northeast (Broadcast) - Arijit Sen
• Film and Television Journalism (Broadcast) - Suresh Mathew & Rohit Khanna

2009-2010

• Reporting on Politics & Government - Anubha Bhonsle
• On-the-Spot Reporting - Preeti Singh
• Reporting from J&K and the Northeast - Arijit Sen

2010-2011

• Uncovering India Invisible – Rupashree Nanda
• Sports Journalism – Smriti Advani & Priyanka Dube
• Reporting from J&K and the Northeast – Mufti Islah

Asian Television Awards

Launched in 1996, Asian Television Awards (ATA) is the Asian TV industry's most significant and celebrated event, recognizing excellence in programming, production and performance. Determined by an expert panel of over 50 judges from across the region, the results are tabulated and audited by international auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, with the winners only announced during the Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner.

2007

• Best Current Affairs Presenter - Karan Thapar

2009

• Best News Programme - Election Counting Day Coverage 2009

2010

• Best Cross-Platform Content - The Citizen Journalist Show
• Best News Programme - India at 9 with Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best Current Affairs Presenter - Karan Thapar for Devil's Advocate

2011

• Best Cross-Platform Content - The Citizen Journalist Show

2012

• Best Cross-Platform Content - The Citizen Journalist Show

News Television Awards

In 2007, Indian Television Dot Com Pvt. Ltd. instituted the News Television Awards to honour the people who make this industry what it is. The initiative met with tremendous success and since then, the NT Awards have become bigger and better with awards conferred to achievers across English, Hindi, Telugu and Marathi news channels, and in 43 categories covering programming, personality, channel and special awards.

2007

• Best Sports News Presenter (English) - Meha Bharadwaj
• Best Sports reporting by a Channel (English) - Rudraneil Sengupta
• Best Business News Show (English) - Axe The Tax
• Best Investigative Reporting (English) - I am M K Subba
• Best Daily Newscast (English) - India at 9
• Best News Documentary Programme (English) - Missing In Action
• Newsmaker of the Year - Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best English News Channel - CNN-IBN
• Best News Channel Website – IBNLive

2008

• Numero Uno English News Channel
• Best TV News Anchor (English) - Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best Entertainment Critic - Rajeev Masand
• Best Talk Show on News Channel (English) - State of the Nation
• Best News Documentary Programme (English) - Remembering 7/11 - Lest We Forget
• Best Show on Environment Awareness (English) - A Question of Land
• Best Current Affairs Programme (English) - Devil's Advocate
• Best-Presented Popular News Show (English) - Face The Nation
• Best News Channel Website - IBNLive.com

2010

• Numero Uno English News Channel
• Best TV News Anchor (English) - Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best Entertainment Critic - Rajeev Masand
• Best Talk Show on News Channel (English) - State of the Nation
• Best News Documentary Programme (English) - Remembering 7/11 - Lest We Forget
• Best Show on Environment Awareness (English) - A Question of Land
• Best Current Affairs Programme (English) - Devil's Advocate
• Best-Presented Popular News Show (English) - Face The Nation
• Best News Channel Website - IBNLive.com

2011

• Investigative News Report - Seemi's Medical Education scam
• Current Affairs Programme (Home & International) - Devil's Advocate
• Current Affairs Feature - 30 Min (The Ghost of Ayodhya)
• Lifestyle & Fashion News Show - Living it Up
• Crime Show - 30 Min (On Death Row)
• Entertainment News Show - Now Showing
• Business Feature - Axe the Tax
• Sports News Show - The Beautiful Game
• Sports News Show - The Big Cricket Debate
• Sports Feature - Indian Sports Legends Awards
• Best-Presented Popular News Show - Face The Nation
• Show on Social/Environment Awareness/Social Development Campaign - Real Heroes
• Technology based show - Big Bang 2 (India360 special)
• TV News Presenter - Rajdeep Sardesai for India at 9
• TV News Reporter - Bhupendra Chaubey (for Ayodhya coverage & CWG coverage)
• TV News Anchor - Karan Thapar (for DA & Last Word)
• Entertainment Critic - Rajeev Masand
• Young TV Journalist - Priyali Sur

2012

• Lifestyle & Fashion News show - Secret Kitchen - Men Can Cook
• Entertainment Feature - Bollywood Blockbusters Music Maestros - Madan Mohan
• Show on Social/Environment Awareness / Social Development Campaign - The Citizen Journalist - Season 5
• Sports Feature - Champions Of The World
• Sports News Feature - Kings Of Cricket
• News Documentary-Limited episodes - My Child Is Gay
• Current Affairs Feature - Irom's 10 Years Fast
• Daily Prime Time News Telecast - India @ 9
• Best Presented Popular News show - India @ 9
• Promo Campaign by a News Channel - C. J. Films (AB BOL)
• Promo for a channel - CNN - IBN (State Of The Nation)
• News Cinematographer – Prakasam
• Coverage of Lokpal Bill - CNN - IBN (Lokpal Coverage In 2011)
• Sports News show presenter - Meha Bhardawaj
• Young TV Journalist (Below 24 years of age) - Parikshit Luthra
• Best News Channel Website: IBNlive.com
• Channel Packaging of the Year: CNN-IBN

2013

• Best Daily Prime Time News Show: India At 9
• Best News Documentary: Ground Zero Gujarat
• Best Current Affairs Feature: Ground Zero Gujarat
• Best Entertainment Feature: Music Maestros (S D Burman)
• Best Business Talk Show: Rate the Budget
• Best Sports Feature: The Contenders (Hockey Special)
• Best Presented Popular News Show: The Last Word
• Best Public Debate Show: Question Time Didi
• Best TV News Presenter: Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best TV News Reporter: Anubha Bhonsle
• Best Use of Graphics in a Promo: Olympics Omnibus
• Best News Cinematographer: Prakasam
• Best News Channel Website: IBNLive.com

Indian Telly Awards

The Indian Telly Awards celebrate excellence both on-screen and behind-the-scenes of television. Conceptualised by Anil Wanvari, the Founder CEO of leading media and television information services and other services group, indiantelevision.com, these prestigious awards are given in several categories such as best programme or series in a specific genre, most popular actors and awards for technical roles such as writers and directors.

2006

• Best News Anchor - Rajdeep Sardesai
• Best Non-Fiction Programme - Red Corridor
• Best TV Documentary - Missing In Action
• Best Talk Show - State of the Nation
• Best Sports Show - LOC
• Big Idea of the Year - Citizen Journalist

2007

• Best English News Channel

Exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards

Exchange4media formulated the Exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards in 2008 with the objective of recognizing the best in Television news, to reward broadcasters and industry leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of Television Broadcasting in India.

2008

• News Interviewer of the Year - Karan Thapar
• Videographer of the Year – Rakesh Negi
• CEO of the year – Sameer Manchandana

2010

• The Hall of Fame for Continuing Contribution to Industry (Professional) - Rajdeep Sardesai
• News Reporter of the Year 2010 - Anubha Bhonsle

2012

• Best News Coverage – National - Lokpal Bill

Chameli Devi Jain Awards

Chameli Devi Jain Award is an award given to women who are outstanding media persons.

2006-07

• Outstanding Women Mediaperson of the Year – Nilanjana Bose

2007-08

• Outstanding Women Mediaperson of the Year - Rupashree Nanda

RBS Wildlife Awards

RBS Wildlife Awards were instituted to recognise the best in the field of wildlife conservation and to celebrate the unsung heroes of India who are defending her wildernesses and consequently safeguarding her food and water security.

2009

• The Wings Award was conferred on CNN-IBN for its work towards environmental journalism headed by Bahar Dutt.

Sports Federation of India

2007

• Television Presenter of the Year – Gaurav Kalra

Controversies

Commonwealth Games Contract

On August 5, 2011 Comptroller and Auditor General of India's report on XIX Commonwealth Games was tabled in Parliament of India. In section 14.4.2 of the report, CAG alleged that while awarding contracts worth Rs 3.78 crore for production & broadcasting of commercials for promoting CWG-2010 to CNN-IBN & NDTV, the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee followed an arbitrary approach. Proposals were considered in an ad hoc manner, as and when a proposal was received; no form of competitive tendering was adopted. The CAG further said in its report that, "We had no assurance about the competitiveness of the rates quoted by these channels and the need and usefulness of these proposals. From March 2010 to June 2010, the entire pre games publicity and sponsorship publicity was done only on NDTV & CNN-IBN."

Fake Twitter comments

A controversy about some fake Twitter comments that ran on the screen during a news show raised questions about the reliability of instant feedback from viewers. The officials later apologized saying that the source of viewer comment was wrongly stated as Twitter.

Fake Live debate

On November 2011, on its prime time show Face The Nation, the channel broadcasted a pre-recorded interview of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar as a live television debate. The show was hosted by the deputy editor of the channel, Sagarika Ghose, the wife of the channel's editor, Rajdeep Sardesai. On public outcry, the anchor issued a public apology on Twitter, web and TV. The episode has not been hosted on the show's homepage.

See also

• 24-hour television news channels
• Global Broadcast News
• Television in India
• Time Warner
• Turner Broadcasting System

Competitors

• Headlines Today
• NDTV 24x7
• NewsX
• Times Now

External links

• Official website
• CNN-News18 on X
• CNN-News18 on Facebook