MUMBAI: The spate of changes at ITV Network that runs NewsX and India News continues. The latest is the elevation of current managing editor of NewsX Rahul Shivshankar to the post of editor in chief of the English news channel.
He had joined NewsX in September 2013 in his second stint at the channel. Shivshankar is the face of the channel’s weekday prime time show Nation@9:00pm and India Debates.
Prior to rejoining NewsX, he was executive editor of Headlines Today and senior editor at Times Now. He has also worked on the editorial page of Times of India. He has a total of 20 years of experience.
Speaking on his elevation, ITV Network managing director Kartikeya Sharma said, “I am delighted to recognise the talent of Rahul Shivshankar. He is a celebrated name in the news fraternity and has an incredible drive and vision, which makes him a wonderful choice to lead the channel. Bringing in talent of the caliber of Rahul and enlarging his role, will allow Rahul and his team to accelerate our move into a continuous and dynamic model of innovating in the news genre. Under Rahul’s tenure, NewsX has become India’s leading English news channel with a consistent performance of being a market leader and in a short span time, it has attained a leadership edge over its competition and is a force to reckon with in the English news genre. Rahul has been instrumental in reorganising content strategies and news operations with greater creativity and flexibility and has developed more cohesive and unique experiences for our audiences. He’s been everything I could ever want in an editor and I cannot imagine a better choice at NewsX for editor in chief. Congratulations Rahul—you more than deserve it.”
His first stint at the channel was between 2011 and 2012. He was also one of the core members who launched Headlines Today in 2003.
ITV Network group CEO RK Arora feels that this move will strengthen the network’s commitment to become India’s largest and most profitable TV news network. “We have assembled the most talented journalists in ITV Network and Rahul’s elevation as editor in chief will help us leverage his skills and experience to deliver breaking news with context and perspective on the most important stories. I am confident that Rahul will bring NewsX to greater heights than it’s ever known."
Shivshankar has extensively documented the attack on Nariman House in Mumbai on 26 November 2008 in an anthology of investigative narratives published by Roli Books.
"I am deeply honored. I have been blessed with a team of incredibly talented and creative people that work tirelessly to bring to life stories told with a rare degree of nuance, objectivity and accuracy. This collective effort and enterprise has catapulted News X to a leadership position in the English news space. This role provides me with an exciting opportunity to shape the future of news TV,” said Shivshankar.
