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Tag: Becky Anderson

  • “India is an incredibly important market for us with no dearth of stories to tell”: Ravi Agrawal

    “India is an incredibly important market for us with no dearth of stories to tell”: Ravi Agrawal

    It has been just six months since he’s taken charge of CNN International operations from south Asia. As bureau chief from New Delhi, Ravi Agrawal has been associated with the media conglomerate since he stepped into the media fraternity eight years ago.

     

    First in London and then in New York, Agrawal has been producer for several shows including ‘Fareed Zakaria GPS’. Now in Delhi, he will be looking at increasing the coverage from the country with a new government at the helm. As the world’s focus shifts towards South Asia, Agrawal will lead the CNN team from India to deliver key stories for the global English audience.

     

    In conversation with indiantelevision.com’s Vishaka Chakrapani, he shares a few insights on the focus of CNN International in the country and what Indian stories mean to the world.

     

    Excerpts…

     

    How important is India in terms of world stories for CNN International?

     

    India is a great fascinating story now. It’s 1/6th of humanity. It has become an increasingly important force economically speaking and is demographically vibrant. In all our stories we emphasise that the median age of Indians is 27 which means half of all Indians are under 27 years of age which when compared to other countries shows India as a very young and vibrant country. It has immense potential to be a huge player. The spurt in growth of smartphones which will grow from 130 million users today to 250 million in the next five years will impact stories and the economy. This in turn will also impact how we as journalists cover stories. India is an incredibly important market for us and there is no dearth of stories to tell us. 

     

    What are the changes you’ve brought in the reporting teams?

     

    Historically, we have had a very strong presence in India and are looking at maintaining that with two correspondents in Mumbai and Delhi for politics and business. With producers and cameramen and now we are well positioned to attack not just breaking news but also trend stories.

     

    What stories from India interest your audience?

     

    Certainly demographics interest us as well as the growth of digital in the country. The reason why Flipkart raised $1 billion was because there was a feeling that with the growth of the smartphone industry, Indians are going to spend a lot of money online. Immediately after, Amazon announced its investment of $2 billion here. We are fascinated with this because it changes not just retail but also the media, banking and daily life of people.

     

    Politics is also of interest to us, especially with the arrival of a new government which has got a mandate after 30 years with absolute majority. A lot of businessmen we spoke to are optimistic about the opportunity India has in store. Our challenge is how will we cover the larger India narrative that is on the cusp of doing what China might have done 20 years ago which is high speed growth, big transformative change across country and as journalists we need to analyse whether this change will actually happen.

     

    We do have a commitment to doing strong people stories. For all of India’s economic advances, there are a number of social ills too. We have a show called Freedom Project where we tackle world issues but they have mostly led us back to south Asia.

     

    Have there been any changes in the reporting style?

     

    That’s a constantly evolving process. We use Live-U for reporting, which enables us to go anywhere and broadcast with just two people. In India, with widespread technology and 3G coverage, we get amazing signals and so we can be more mobile and live.

     

    We invest a lot of money and resources in our photographers. We shoot state of the art 16:9 HD and we broadcast in HD in the US and you can see that difference the way our shots are framed, the way we get to places that few others get to. Some examples are our coverage in Gaza, Africa for Ebola and the Ukraine crisis. We invest a lot in just reaching these places and reporting from there. It costs a lot to get there first, to ensure security and to be with experienced teams.

     

    Does CNN have any plan to produce shows from India anytime soon?

     

    We have a bureau where we have a number of places where we can go live from, but we don’t have a studio yet. However, we are committed to telling the India story. One of our shows, Connect the World has now shifted from London to Abu Dhabi that puts focus on the Middle East and South Asia. That’s a global story, watched in Latin America but it still nods to the fact that its 8:30pm in India when its telecast.

     

    During elections, Becky Anderson came to India and hosted her entire show from here.  We are well equipped to broadcast live from India by getting anchors here for breaking news. Indian elections were covered in both our International feed and the US feed. Americans love elections and so a number of shows did live and guest segments with Becky.

     

    Any plans for a regional focus in India?

     

    We are essentially an English channel catering to an English speaking audience that is the upper niche, outward looking, global traveller with business interests. The global viewer is English and India will soon be the biggest English speaking audience.

     

    How do you operate on digital? Is digital a precursor to TV for breaking news now?

     

    We’ve stopped distinguishing between TV and digital. We don’t think of a story as ‘this is a web story’ or ‘this is a TV story’.  The basic research needed for both is the same. CNN is truly one of those places where we think multi-platform for every story. When we take a picture we think of it in terms of the best TV imagery and also if it can be used online. The aim is to show it visually for TV and in a simple way for digital. We ensure that we aren’t just tweeting our stories but also engaging people and collecting news. When there is breaking news, we first verify and then put it out on multi platforms simultaneously.

  • CNN opens new production centre in the Middle East

    CNN opens new production centre in the Middle East

    MUMBAI: A pivotal part of CNN’s content ownership strategy has come on stream with the launch of a new state-of-the-art production center and newsgathering hub in the heart of the Middle East. This was announced today in Abu Dhabi by CNN International MD, executive VP managing director Tony Maddox.

    He was joined for the announcement by Turner Broadcasting System chairman and CEO Phil Kent and by CNN Chief International correspondent Christiane Amanpour.

    Maddox says, “The Middle East has played a significant role in CNN’s heritage and is part of our DNA, two of our earliest bureaus were in Cairo and Jerusalem. This region unquestionably plays an integral part in world affairs, and the new hub in Abu Dhabi gives us the opportunity to get to the heart of the rich and diverse stories across the political, business, social and cultural spectrums.

    “The establishment of a permanent broadcast and production center in the Middle East by CNN is a significant and unique move by a Western news broadcaster. It gives CNN a powerful base from which to coordinate seven regional bureaus and showcase a new daily news show from the Middle East.”

    The new online and TV production facility sits alongside CNN’s existing 32 international newsgathering operations which also includes digital production centers in Hong Kong, London, Mexico City and Atlanta.

    Overseen by CNN’s managing editor for the Middle East Tom Fenton, CNN Abu Dhabi will also coordinate newsgathering for the seven CNN operations in the region: Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, Dubai, Jerusalem, Kabul and Islamabad.

    With more than two dozen staff, CNN Abu Dhabi not only consolidates CNN Worldwide’s investment in global newsgathering, but it also underlines CNN’s growth strategy that includes the commercial launch of the CNN Wire, the unveiling of the new CNN.com and the addition of new prime-time shows across HLN and CNN International.

    Built as a fully high definition and online production facility, CNN Abu Dhabi houses a four-camera digital studio with 24/7 live capability, edit suites and fully integrated newsroom.

    First Daily News Show From the Region: For the first time in its history, CNN will broadcast a daily live news show from the Middle East. ‘Prism’, presented by Stan Grant, will air Sunday to Thursday at 12p ET/9p GST. CNN Abu Dhabi will also be the home to CNN’s perennially popular feature shows Inside the Middle East, now in its sixth year, and Marketplace Middle East which launched two years ago.

    Prism is the 10th new show to be launched on CNN International in the past 12 months. It joins the network’s new primetime line-up, uniting Stan Grant, Christiane Amanpour, Richard Quest, Becky Anderson, Fionnuala Sweeney, Michael Holmes and Hala Gorani in a schedule that between them covers off business and current affairs programming, breaking news and behind-the-scenes reportage in distinctive formats.

    Content Ownership : CNN’s content ownership strategy has provided a wealth of new material for all of CNN’s platforms across TV, online, mobile and CNN’s commercial wire service, while also allowing that content to be aggregated to affiliates.

    Since early 2008 CNN has opened seven new editorial operations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and now the Middle East, as well as placing additional correspondents in many existing operations.

  • CNN launches a new feature show ‘The Spirit of…’

    MUMBAI: CNN has announced that it will launch a new monthly feature The Spirit Of… The 15-minute feature programme will be presented each month by CNN anchor Becky Anderson. She embarks on an intellectual journey, exploring the diverse fields of arts, culture, science, sports, business and philosophy to understand how such matters affect our lives. Each programme will introduce viewers to a key thinker or an outstanding leader to gain an insight into their work and careers.

    The first episode airs on 5 May at 6: 45 pm, 6 May at 1:45 pm. She goes forth in The Spirit Of…Adventure. Becky braves harsh conditions near the North Pole to undergo an intensive ‘Arctic Survival Course’. She ventures to the island of Spitsbergen in Norway to learn the vital skills needed to endure the Arctic wilderness and guiding her adventure, Becky gains insight from the world’s most famous mountaineer, Reinhold Messner.

    Once referred to as the ‘Michael Jordan of Mountaineering’, Messner was the first person to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and the first to ascend all fourteen ‘eight-thousanders’ (peaks over 8,000 metres above sea level). He talks about his experiences, whether it’s climbing the world’s highest peaks, skiing across Antarctica, or traversing the Gobi Desert. Messner explains during the course of the show what it is that makes man choose to push himself to the limit.