MUMBAI: It is pretty significant that Zee TV group promoter Subhash Chandra used 15 August, India’s 70th Independence Day to launch Zee Media’s global English news channel World is One News (WION) on TV screens. Wion launched as a free to air satellite service in 37 countries and is available in India on Dish TV (#605), Reliance (#459), Tata Sky (#628), Siti - Mumbai (#419) Delhi (#419 ) Bangalore (#319) Indore (#419) Kolkata (#430) and on Den Supreme Mumbai (#371) Kolkata (#371).
Chandra has for long been advocating that the world needs to see south Asia, and more specifically India, through a pair of local unfiltered glasses, not colored by Western or any other perspective. He had announced last year that Zee Media would launch WION and had appointed a former CNN and CNBC journalist Rohit Gandhi to head the news channel as its editor in chief.
For the past couple of months, it has been putting out news on various online platforms, right from YouTube to Facebook and has been focused on presenting global news developments from a south Asian perspective.
Said Gandhi in an opinion piece on the Wion website announcing the launch today: “For decades, media has been pushing the agenda of a country or a group of countries. Primarily Western news outlets have occupied that space and they push their viewpoint. They try and come as close possible to an "unbiased" approach. But they are far removed from reality as they are unable to decipher the intricacies involved… The stories were myopic and many times their selection was biased. The only stories that made to the forefront were about poverty, manual scavenging or the monkeys. I knew that I couldn’t work in a myopic news environment; I had to tell the stories that were nuanced and looked at all sides of a society or societies. “
He added that WION will be “working to deliver an unbiased news network where people will be able to take pride in the phenomenal world that they live in and are able to learn from the successes and failures in general. As we launch the ‘World Is One News’ Network, we hope to share the stories and our journey with you.”
Zee Media has set up bureaus or hired journalists in the major regions including Europe, west Asia and the US.
The channel says it will also have a strong focus on participatory journalism from viewers. “We encourage people to submit their stories, photos, opinions, comments and videos,” says its website.
