MUMBAI: Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd (ANNPL) has appointed Sugata Srinivasaraju as editorial director of Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd (ANNPL). He will head editorial functions of the daily Kannada Prabha and its Kannada news channel Suvarna 24X7.

Srinivasaraju will also lead the future news ventures and forays of the group. Prior to joining ANNPL, he was the chief editor at the Times Group’s Vijay Karnataka in Bangalore.

Srinivasaraju has more than 18 years of experience, which includes working as a senior associate editor with Outlook, news editor at the Hindustan Times and Deccan Herald. He has also contributed to the Irish Times.

Srinivasaraju said, “I will harness the opportunity to build one of the finest convergence newsrooms in the country. At a time when the business of news is undergoing a never-seen-before transformation, to ensure that our eyes are not taken off the enshrined values of journalism will be a pristine task for me.”

A writer in English and Kannada, Srinivasaraju has authored books that include Phoenix and Four other Mines, which won the Karnataka academy of letters translation prize, Keeping Faith with the Mother Tongue - The Anxieties of a local culture and Pickles from Home - The Worlds of a Bilingual among others.