ITV

Tag: Daniel Birnbaum

  • Rajat Sharma re-elected as NBA president

    Rajat Sharma re-elected as NBA president

    NEW DELHI: India TV editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma was re-elected as the president of the National Broadcasting Association (NBA) at its 13th annual general meeting. The board has elected News24 Broadcast India Ltd chairperson-cum-MD Anuradha Prasad as its vice president, and Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd – Times Network MD and CEO MK Anand as honorary treasurer for the year 2020-2021.

    Accepting the charge, Sharma said in his address, “I would like to thank Mrs Annie Joseph, secretary-general, NBA for her efforts in ensuring that the objectives and initiatives of the NBA are achieved and implemented. I would also like to thank the staff of the NBA Secretariat, legal counsel, financial and corporate consultants as well as the auditors of NBA and bankers for their valuable time and cooperation.”

    He also spoke about BARC’s decision to hit the pause button on TRP measurement for news channels. “NBA has welcomed the decision of BARC to suspend the measurement of television viewership ratings of news channels for a period of twelve weeks. I have said in my statement that the corrupted, compromised, irrationally fluctuating data is creating a false narrative on What India Watches and has been putting pressure on our members to take editorial calls that run counter to the journalistic values and ideals of journalism. The current atmosphere of toxicity, abuse and fake news is no longer tenable and NBA as the custodian and guardian of Indian broadcast media believes a bold step of putting ratings of news genre on hold will help in improving the content. I would urge all the members broadcasters during this twelve-week period to take all the necessary steps to improve the content of their channels and move away from the tyranny of ratings and ensure that the independent self-regulatory model adopted by the news broadcasters is vigorously supported and its decisions adhered to by all of us.”

    He added, “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Prakash Javadekar, secretary and officials in the ministry of information & broadcasting and the TRAI for their continued understanding and support on issues which confront us. Since 2008, our self-regulation initiative has been a source of pride for us. On behalf of the NBA board and on my own behalf I would like to place on record our sincere gratitude and thanks to the chairperson and independent members of the NBSA for their support, invaluable guidance and time.”

    The other members on the NBA Board are: –

    •     Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Co Ltd MD MV Shreyams Kumar
    •     TV18 Broadcast Ltd MD Rahul Joshi
    •     ABP Network Pvt Ltd CEO Avinash Pandey
    •     Eenadu Television Pvt Ltd director I Venkat
    •     TV Today Network Ltd vice-chairperson and MD Kalli Purie Bhandal
    •     New Delhi Television Ltd editorial director Sonia Singh
    •     Zee Media Corporation Ltd CEO – cluster 1 Sudhir Chaudhary

  • SodaStream criticises ad censorship by UK ad body

    MUMBAI: SodaStream International was informed by Clearcast that the company‘s new global ad campaign had been pulled from transmission and would not be permitted to air in the UK market.

    Clearcast is the organisation that pre-approves UK TV advertising and is jointly funded by the UK‘s major broadcasters.

    The last minute decision came just ahead of the television commercial‘s planned UK premiere on 22 November, during the prime time scheduling of the ‘I‘m a Celebrity‘ programme on Britain‘s ITV1 channel.

    The ad shows different scenes of soda bottles disappearing instantaneously as people use the SodaStream soda maker, delivering a powerful message about waste and sustainability. The spot closes with commentary of ‘with SodaStream you can save 1000 bottles per year.‘ Despite already airing successfully in the US, Sweden and Australia, it has been deemed inappropriate for UK audiences.

    Clearcast offered the following reasoning for the decision: “The majority decided that the ad could be seen to tell people not to go to supermarkets and buy soft drinks, instead help to save the environment by buying a SodaStream. We thought it was denigration of the bottled drinks market.”

    SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum said, “This decision is absurd, and the explanation given is totally unreasonable. Are we really being censored for helping to save the environment? This might be the first time in the world when an environmental approach has been shut down by the media to protect a traditional industry. Of course we‘re competing with bottled beverages, but why is offering a game-changing approach denigrating? It is like saying that iPod ads denigrate the Walkman or that car ads denigrated the horse and buggy. Clearcast‘s decision is disappointing and disturbing for any democratic society.”

    “This decision appears to put the sensitivities of the world‘s soft drink giants ahead of concern for the environment. We will continue to push Clearcast to reverse their decision and let the British consumer decide. Meanwhile, I invite UK consumers to watch “The SodaStream Effect” on YouTube and form their own opinion on it.” youtube.com/sodastream.

    According to Euromonitor, there are 629 billion bottles and cans manufactured every year. “With global recycling rates estimated to be less than 30%, more than 1 billion of those bottles and cans are dumped as waste across parks, oceans and landfills every single day. Our ad confronts the beverage industry and its arguably outdated business model by showing people that there exists a smarter way to enjoy soft drinks, empowering them to get the bubbles without the bottles” concludes Birnbaum.