Book Review: ‘Good News, Bad News’ by Maya Sharma

Book Title: Good News, Bad News: A Life in Television
Author: Maya Sharma
Publisher: Westland Non-Fiction
Number of Pages: 330
ISBN: 9379852320
Date Published: Jul. 20, 2026

Book Review

“Good News, Bad News: A Life in Television” by Maya Sharma is a candid, absorbing memoir that doubles as a history of Indian television news. Drawing on over three decades in the field, Sharma traces her journey from the early Doordarshan and NDTV days to the noisy, hyper-competitive era of 24×7 private news channels. The result is both a personal story and a wider reflection on how TV news in India rose, evolved, and, in some ways, lost its way.

The writing is clear, calm, and unpretentious, much like the on-screen persona many viewers remember. Sharma recounts elections, political upheavals, natural disasters, and human-interest stories, but she also pauses to examine the everyday newsroom culture—editorial pressures, TRP-driven choices, and the slow shift from public-interest journalism to spectacle. What makes the book engaging is her balanced tone: she neither romanticises the “good old days” nor completely condemns the present, instead offering a thoughtful insider’s view of what has changed and why.

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For readers interested in media studies, journalism, or contemporary Indian history, this book offers accessible, ground-level insight into how television shapes what we see as “news”. It works well both as a professional memoir and as a critique of the ecosystem that produces our nightly headlines. If you’ve grown up watching Indian TV news and wondered how it looks from the reporter’s side of the camera, “Good News, Bad News” is a timely and worthwhile read.

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