ITV

Tag: Nikhil Wagle

  • Shiv Sena ransacks Mumbai office of IBN7, IBN Lokmat

    Shiv Sena ransacks Mumbai office of IBN7, IBN Lokmat

    MUMBAI: IBN7 and IBN Lokmat’s Mumbai office was ransacked by Shiv Sena activists on Friday, using iron rods, cricket stumps and baseball bats.

    A mob of 20-30 people attacked journalists and damaged property at the offices of the IBN Network. The attackers told employees that they would not accept reports criticizing the Shiv Sena and their supremo Bal Thackeray.

    The police later arrested seven Shiv Sena activists for vandalising these offices.

    Meanwhile, eight Shiv Sena workers in Pune were arrested for damaging an IBN7 OB van and pelting stones at the channel’s office in the city.

    Reportedly, attackers in Mumbai told employees they were looking for IBN Lokmat editor-in-chief Nikhil Wagle, and wanted to “teach him a lesson”.

    Condemning the attack, Broadcast Editors’ Association has issued a statement, describing it as an “attack on freedom of expression” and the handiwork of elements who want to undermine the role of pen, microphone and camera. “Such attacks go against the basic tenets of democracy and need to be condemned in the harshest possible terms,” it said.

  • IBN-Lokmat soft launches, commercial launch on 6 April

    IBN-Lokmat soft launches, commercial launch on 6 April

    MUMBAI: IBN-Lokmat, the the GBN-Lokmat joint venture’s Marathi news channel, began its test signals and soft-launched on some cable networks in the city this evening. However, the channel will see its commercial launch on 6 April.

    IBN-Lokmat editor Nikhil Wagle says, “We are launching on Gudi Padwa (New Year as per Marathi calendar) as it is an auspicious day for the ‘Marathi Manoos’ (Marathi speaking people).”

    The channel will be available on cable networks in the state from 6 am on Sunday and will show many special programmes throughout the launch day.

    “We have a one-and-a-half hour exclusive interview with Sachin Tendulkar in Marathi in addition to our other offerings,” says Wagle.

    IBN-Lokmat has 13 fully functional bureaux and will also be using Lokmat’s reporters. IBN-Lokmat will join Zee 24 Taas and Star Majha in a market that currently generates under Rs 600 million in annual revenues.

  • IBN Lokmat set for launch by March-end

    IBN Lokmat set for launch by March-end

    NEW DELHI: IBN Lokmat, the upcoming Marathi news channel from the GBN-Lokmat joint venture company, is all set to launch by March-end.

    “We will be officially launching it between 16 March but before 1 April,” editor-in-chief Nikhil Wagle told indiantelevision.com.

    Wagle said that the existing 13 bureaux are fully functional and two more are being added. Four OB vans from the four key cities – Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad – will be used for the most “vibrant live coverage and programming.”

    “We are completely ready after the training by the American technological and editorial experts have done their work over the past few months, and this will give us the competitive edge,” Wagle held.

    He added that the channel has 13 leased lines from across the state, so that direct and live news content can be shown throughout the day.

    However, Wagle refused to disclose any programming or coverage pattern, saying: “Already there are many copycats who are getting half-baked information of the kind of programming we are going to do, and are copying them. I do not want to disclose the content beforehand.”

    Asked about the usual repeated show of violence that the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been seriously upset with, Wagle said that if there is violence in society, it will be shown, but in a responsible manner, so that further violence is not fomented.

    Reminded that most channels had shown old footage of violence against north Indians during the Raj Thackeray arrest on 12 February, but without mentioning that those were old file photos, Wagle asserted that this will not be done in IBN Lokmat.

    “I do care for TRPs but I shall not stoop so low for TRPs that it gets away from serious but popular journalism, because that is what I have done in my 20 years of print and the past decade of television journalism. I believe that TRPs will come if one does serious and popular but highly credible journalism,” Wagle clarified.

  • IBN Lokmat to launch by March; TG ‘aspirational’ audience

    IBN Lokmat to launch by March; TG ‘aspirational’ audience

    NEW DELHI: IBN Lokmat, the Marathi news channel from the GBN stable, is all set to launch latest by March.

    The channel is currently in its trial run and will launch as soon as the new facility in Vikhroli is ready and once the ongoing 360-degree training by US experts concludes, Nikhil Wagle, editorial director tells indiantelevision.com.

    Wagle insists that the network created by IBN is unprecedented in regional journalism and includes 13 bureaux spread across the state, with 100 stringers, allowing “us to reach the last man in the village”.

    Wagle says he visited hundreds of journalism schools in the state and 2,000 students were interviewed; hence the editorial staff is representative of the entire state, not Mumbai-centric.

    Lokmat is the biggest newspaper chain with multiple editions in the state, and the new company, IBN Lokmat News Pvt Ltd, owns the channel, but is a part of the GBN group, and hence, committed to the same standards of journalism as CNN IBN, Wagle explains.

    Asked whether infotainment or even crude videos (of the kind seen on Hindi news channels) will also find a place on the channel, Wagle denies it, arguing that historically, the Maharashtrian news consumer has been more tuned to social values than those from the Hindi heartland.

    “That sort of news won’t be accepted here,” he says, adding that in any case, the company is committed to hard news that is of relevance to people.

    Wagle reveals that the core content for IBN Lokmat would be driven by the aspirational aspects of Maharashtra’s economy today.

    Sixty-four per cent of Maharashtra lives in urban areas, the highest in the country after Tamil Nadu, he says.

    “Every small town is trying to become a metro and larger towns are aspiring to higher status and this is the real issue today, so this aspirational aspect will be widely covered, along with traditional hard core news.”

    With malls and cineplexes coming up, businesses expanding and the youth lifestyle changing rapidly, urbanisation and its challenges would also be a core issue on the channel.

    Asked whether they would also include programming content like astrology, which has recently surfaced in IBN 7, GBN’s Hindi news channel, Wagle says, “There is no place for astrology in a news channel and the Marathi viewer is not interested. When they watch a news channel, they want deep-rooted investigative news.”

    There will be rural coverage as well, but Wagle says it will not just be sensational news of farmer suicides.

    “There are different angles to showing something, and we are not chasing TRPs, so when we cover farmer suicides, we shall show all the angles that exist, not just the sensational aspect,” he said.

    Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief of CNN IBN, says that the top layer of editors are the cream of Marathi journalism and will be totally driven by hard core journalism, saying, “Nikhil Wagle is no less a hard core journalist than any in the country, and so are most of the others, who all have a minimum of 15 years of journalism behind them.”