New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) The News Broadcasters Association on Thursday elected India TV Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma as the president for another term in 2020-21, a statement issued by the media body said.

At the NBA board meeting, the members unanimously asked Sharma, the chairman and editor-in-chief of India TV, to continue as the president.

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The board also elected Anuradha Prasad Shukla, chairperson-cum-managing director - News24 Broadcast India Ltd, as the vice president and M K Anand, managing director & chief executive officer - Times Network - Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd, Honorary Treasurer of the NBA for the year 2020-2021.

Sharma was first elected as NBA president in 2014-15 and has since been heading the organisation barring 2016-17.

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In his address to the NBA members at the 13th annual general meeting, Sharma said that during the last six months, the entire world has gone through an unprecedented crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Businesses across the globe have seen disruption. News broadcasters are no exception to this disruption. Overnight everything changed for one and all. Our responsibility as news channels increased manifold when the government declared us as 'essential services'," he said.

"Our members stood up to all the difficulties and ensured that news was delivered seamlessly and without any glitches. During the lockdown, there was an unprecedented spike in the viewership of news channels," he said.

The NBA salutes journalists, camera persons and editorial staff who have gone beyond their line of duty, putting their lives at risk, and ensured that news and information of the pandemic reached millions of viewers, Sharma said.

"This year also witnessed an unprecedented challenge of unregulated toxic content by some channels who are not NBA members. I am happy to share that NBA members stood together to fight against this menace," he said.

"The NBA believes in editorial standards ensuring objectivity, neutrality, fairness and accuracy in reporting. We have appealed to the advertisers not to support toxic content and sensationalism that promotes hate. I am happy to share that reputed brands have come forward and supported our stand," he said.

The NBA is the largest organisation of news broadcasters, consisting of almost all major news networks of the country.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)