Prasar Bharati’s plan to launch digital news platform gathers pace

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati’s ambitious project of starting a digital platform to disseminate news and views to a global audience from an Indian perspective is gathering pace, according to people aware of the development.

In the first step, the board of Prasar Bharti will begin identifying and aggregating various news dissemination sources that can be put together to form an application-based interface, which will offer services in multiple languages.

“The second step would be to create unique content for the digital platform that would be run on a 24x7 cycle,” said Shashi Shekhar, CEO, Prasar Bharati, who conceptualised the project. Prasar Bharati is an autonomous body under the ministry of information and broadcasting and runs Doordarshan television and All India Radio.

In 2017, a committee headed by Prasar Bharati chairman A Surya Prakash suggested establishing a digital platform to report on international news to a global digital audience with an India perspective that would also serve the purpose of countering any anti-India narrative in foreign media.

At an initial estimated cost of Rs 75 crore, the digital platform is expected to put out news in text, video, podcast and alert forms.

The platform is expected to be modelled on the format followed by media giants like the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Cable News Network (CNN), China Central Television (CCTV) and Al Jazeera, with correspondents overseas to bring news to Indian audiences as well as present news of the emerging “new India”.

It will target English speaking audiences, global opinion makers, influencers and the Indian diaspora. Shaping narratives through programmes on the platform was another purpose listed by the committee in its report.

The panel had cited news reports in foreign publications that portrayed India in an adverse light, highlighting conflicts between Indian communities and criticising political leaders.