WION
WION is an Indian English language news channel headquartered in Noida, India. WION is owned by the Essel Group and is a part of the Zee Media network of channels, whose majority owner is Subhash Chandra and family. As of 2021, WION had presence in over 190 countries.
It has faced scrutiny from multiple foreign countries including China and Canada over its coverage, and in 2022 was blocked from YouTube for a period of time for broadcasting a speech by Sergey Lavrov, the head of Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The channel's former Pakistan bureau chief was forced into exile after a failed kidnapping attempt in Islamabad. The channel has been accused of promoting misinformation regarding COVID-19.
History
Zee Media hired Rohit Gandhi as the founder and first editor-in-chief to establish the channel in August 2015. Its simulcast was launched on its website in many countries as a free-to-air satellite service on 15 June 2016. The television channel began airing on 15 August 2016. The channel was made available on Google Assistant in 2020. Sudhir Chaudhary served as its editor-in-chief after Gandhi until he left in 2021. Before switching to CNN-News18, Palki Sharma Upadhyay served for 4 years and resigned in September 2022. Past team includes Naveen Kapoor and Kartikeya Sharma.In 2021, the appointment of M.J. Akbar, an Indian journalist and politician who has been accused of sexual assault by women, to WION as an "editorial consultant" was met with controversy, with more than 150 journalists signing a statement demanding that Akbar be removed by WION and Zee News.
Staff
The current team includes Sidhant Sibal of DD News, who joined the media corporation on 1 April 2018. Madhu Soman joined as a chief business officer in 2022 but left in 2024. Rohit Banerjee looks after the branded content. While Molly Gambhir replaces Palki Sharma's position on Gravitas and Gravitas Plus to become the leading anchor of the WION channel, other associated journalists include Digvijay Singh Deo, Shivan Chanana, Rabin Sharma, Ieshan Wani, Esha Hanspal, Priyanka Sharma and Alyson le Grange.The channel's Pakistan bureau chief, Taha Siddiqui, was forced into exile after a failed kidnapping attempt in Islamabad. He was replaced by Anas Mallick. Anas Mallick resigned in July 2025.
Content and responses
Conflicts with China
In 2020, the Chinese Embassy in India lodged a formal protest against WION for its interview with Joseph Wu, head of Taiwan's foreign relations. The embassy criticized WION for promoting what it called "Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party separatist activities", claiming it contradicted India's adherence to the One-China policy. The embassy stated that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, as recognized by UN resolutions, and urged WION to respect India's official position. It warned that any challenge to China's territorial integrity regarding Taiwan would be strongly opposed.In the same year, the Chinese government blocked access to the WION website, as confirmed by GreatFire.org, a Chinese internet monitoring watchdog. Earlier WION has faced criticism from the Chinese government for a coverage on what it described as a "cover-up" of COVID-19 pandemic situation in China. In March, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian blocked WION on Twitter. Chinese diplomats in India also critiqued its reporting. In June, the Global Times, linked to the Chinese Communist Party, named WION in an article, advising it to think "independently".