NEW DELHI: Former Prasar Bharati Chairman Surya Prakash launched veteran broadcaster and former Doordarshan producer Harsaran Bir Kaur Pandey’s book, The Evolution of TV News in India: From Doordarshan to Digital Disruption – An Insider’s Account, at the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi on Saturday.
Published by Om Books International, the book documents nearly five decades of Indian television journalism, tracing its development from the early years of Doordarshan to the emergence of satellite television, round-the-clock news channels and digital media platforms.
The launch brought together several prominent personalities associated with Indian broadcasting, including wildlife filmmaker and three-time Green Oscar winner Mike Pandey, veteran Doordarshan news anchors Shammi Narang, Neethi Ravindran and Komal G.B. Singh, and Ajay Mago, Publisher, Om Books International. Broadcasting professionals, media veterans and other invited guests attended the event.
Drawing on her extensive experience in television production and communications, Harsaran Bir Kaur Pandey presents a first-hand account of the people, events and technological developments that shaped Indian television news.
Pandey began her broadcasting career at Doordarshan’s Mandi House headquarters in the early 1970s. She was among a group of 90 professionals recruited during the broadcaster’s formative years to support the expansion of television services beyond Delhi.
Following professional training with the BBC, she contributed to the development of early television news production systems, working at a time when broadcasting depended on limited technical infrastructure, film-based reporting and conventional transmission equipment.
The book includes accounts of the operational challenges faced by television professionals during those years. It describes how production teams worked with limited resources to prepare news bulletins, coordinate outside broadcasts and deliver coverage of major national and international developments.
Among the incidents recalled is the coverage of John Lennon’s assassination in 1980, when Pandey used her personal collection of vinyl record covers to provide visual material for the television news bulletin.
During her 14 years at Doordarshan, Pandey was associated with coverage of several significant events in Indian history, including the Emergency of 1975–77, the JP Movement, Operation Blue Star in 1984, the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the subsequent general elections.
The book also revisits the early development of election broadcasting, including the use of live election analysis and studio graphics involving television personalities and experts such as Dr Prannoy Roy, Ashok Lahiri and Vinod Dua.
Her professional assignments included coverage of international leaders such as Fidel Castro, Kenneth Kaunda, Nicolae Ceaușescu and Yasser Arafat, along with official visits abroad involving former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
Through these experiences, the author provides insights into the working environment of early television newsrooms and the gradual adoption of new broadcasting technologies.
The publication also brings together recollections and professional experiences associated with several pioneering figures in Indian television, including P.V. Krishnamoorthy, Shiv Sharma, Shashi Kapoor, Salma Sultan, Neethi Ravindran, Shammi Narang, Komal G.B. Singh, Minu Talwar and the late Gitanjali Aiyar.
Beyond her broadcasting career, Pandey spent 21 years working as an international civil servant and communications officer with UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). Her professional experience across broadcasting and international communications forms an important part of the book’s narrative.
The publication traces the transition of Indian television from a single public broadcaster to a diverse media environment, highlighting the technological advances, institutional developments and changing methods of news production that accompanied this transformation.
It also examines the emergence of satellite television during the 1990s, the expansion of private news channels and the subsequent growth of digital platforms that have transformed how audiences access news and information.
Combining personal experiences with accounts of important broadcasting milestones, the book offers readers an opportunity to understand the evolution of Indian television journalism through the perspective of a professional who witnessed several of its formative developments.
The Evolution of TV News in India: From Doordarshan to Digital Disruption – An Insider’s Account, published by Om Books International, is available at major bookstores across India and through leading online retailers.
