The 24 hr english news channel CNN IBN launched by ex NDTV biggie rajdeep sardesai was relief to sore eyes that were locked to 24/7 due to unavailabilty of other good english news channels of Indian origin. The product is commendable and hats of to Rajdeep for making a success out of his venture.
Rajdeep says that his channel is built on the age old ethic that editorial sovereignty is inviolable and calls his channel ’journalist driven’. he has managed to conjure up a good team of professionals handpicked for the job. Anubha Bhosle, Sagorika Ghose and several others provide credibilty to the channel. He is also backed by the sound experience of TV 18’s news gathering techniques and infrastructure which provides a huge back up of sorts for the newsdesk apart from CNN’s huge eminent and extensive news network that provides global news to the Indian subscribers.
However on certain aspects the channel seems very casual and rather ’on the face’, like the entertainment section by Paras Tomar. Considering the channel is news based, the MTV like presentation could be avoided. Also the news reading by sagorika Ghose sounds like she is running late to catch a flight and in a hurry to get over with the sentence. The sets are a little dull, with grey forming the general tone, not very eye catching and appealing.
Still, I would give Rajdeep the thums up, a start up, it would only get better with age. I would very much like to attribute the current small ’grey’ areas to hurried launch and hope they would certainly spend more time on training and analysing all aspects. With Times Now being launched (Times is considered the shark in media circuits), I hope CNN IBN will prove its worth and keep its viewers satisfied with unbiased and fair news reporting with total speed and accuracy!