Prasar Bharati's 'PB Shabd' Service Provides Free News Feed in 15 Languages to Media Organizations

Prasar Bharati has launched a free news feed service for the media industry called 'PB Shabd' (Shared Audio-Visuals for Broadcast and Dissemination). Launched by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in March 2024, the service functions as a news wire, allowing registered organizations to access text, video, audio, photographs, and infographics in 15 Indian languages. The service currently provides content to 3,600 media organizations, and its free access has been extended until March 2027.

'PB Shabd' evolved from the Prasar Bharati News Service (PBNS), which was previously a resource exclusively for the internal editorial teams of All India Radio and Doordarshan. It has now been transformed into an open multimedia news-sharing platform. Plans for 'PB Shabd 2.0' are also underway for the future, which will focus on new product categories and improved content distribution.

A key feature of this service is that the provided content does not carry the Prasar Bharati logo and does not require a credit line. This allows small and regional newspapers to publish national and international news under their own mastheads.

Under the registration process, newspapers and magazines with valid RNI certificates, television and radio channels with valid uplink-downlink certificates, and digital publishers who submit their PAN cards can avail of this service.

The strength of this platform lies in Prasar Bharati's extensive network, which includes more than 1,500 reporters, correspondents, and stringers. To ensure the accuracy of the content, 60 dedicated editorial desks operate around the clock. All India Radio's 46 regional units and Doordarshan's 31 regional units together cover nearly every state and union territory. According to Prasar Bharati, all news undergoes a multi-level editorial verification process before being shared to prevent fake or manipulated content.