In November 2025, a man walked into a press conference hosted by Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma and quietly took a seat among accredited journalists. It did not take long for reporters to realise something was wrong. Police were called, and the individual was taken into custody for allegedly posing as a journalist while carrying microphones bearing the logos of several national news organisations. The incident is one of a growing number of cases across India involving people allegedly impersonating journalists, using fake press credentials or unregulated digital platforms to gain access, spread misinformation or extort money. Media bodies and journalists warn that the trend is damaging public trust and making it harder for genuine reporters to do their jobs. Upender Singh Rathore, National Vice President of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ), said the problem has escalated rapidly over the past few years. "Earlier, fake journalists could be counted on fi

Monday, 20 July 2026 #1  ·  Times City (Page 4)  ·  In-depth feature Dowry dairies: Inside the room where brides prove cost of their abuse By Devanshi Mehta   ·   The Times of India, New Delhi  ·  Page 4 A ground-level immersive report from inside Delhi Police's Special Police Unit for Women and Children (SPUWAC), documenting how women navigate the counselling and mediation process before criminal proceedings in dowry harassment cases. The piece uses NCRB Crime in India 2024 data showing Delhi recorded 109 dowry death cases in 2024 — the highest among 19 metro cities for the fifth consecutive year — and weaves in direct observations of complainants, officers, and case files to illuminate systemic barriers including absentee in-laws, private settlements, and the difficulty of proving stridhan theft. Rare access journalism that situates granular human testimony — women balancing toddlers, han

  The Delhi High Court has called for a legal framework to regulate media, observing that virtually anyone with a mobile phone and microphone can today claim to be a reporter without journalistic training, ethical grounding, or accountability. Justice Girish Kathpalia made the observation while granting bail to Abid Ali and Fukran, accused of assaulting freelance YouTube reporters in a 2025 Seemapuri incident. The reporters were filming a segment on an allegedly illegal place of worship when a mob attacked them and seized their phones and camera battery, according to the prosecution. Both men denied involvement; one claimed he was a bystander, the other said he wasn't at the scene. Justice Kathpalia said "self-styled reporters" sometimes aggressively confront subjects and shape misleading narratives, and noted that in this case, the reporters had apparently agitated local residents while filming before the mob attacked them. The court warned that selective reporting and unverif

Readers picking up Chutney Chronicles might assume writing the book came naturally to Sudha G. Tilak. After all, she has spent more than two decades translating complex ideas into stories, scripts and digital content across newsrooms and media platforms. Yet Tilak says the process was far more demanding than she expected. She approached every recipe much like a news story, verifying facts, testing dishes in the kitchen and carefully checking ingredients and measurements before including them. "To me, this book goes far beyond recipes and nostalgia," she says. "I unearthed fascinating stories about ingredients, history, geography, botany, migration, folklore, colonial influences and nutrition, bringing together culinary heritage with insights for today's health-conscious reader." Her journalistic instinct also shaped the questions she asked while researching the book. "I kept asking: what are the many aspects, factoids and stories that are commonplace and easily ignored behind a d

Tapt Media’s 4BC Brisbane is reaching only half the audience it needs to be profitable, according to documents obtained by The Australian. The report by Steve Jackson also cites “disillusioned” staff who have “lashed out” at “out-of-touch” management, blaming them for “trashing one of the country’s proudest talkback radio brands and torching a number of presenters’ careers in the process”. The Australian obtained “confidential internal network analysis” which calculated that the station needs between 6.2 and 6.4 per cent of market share to break even based on its current costs. When Arthur Laundy’s Tapt Media acquired the station, the analysis figured that 4BC needed to lift its share to around 8 per cent to be profitable, however, instead its share has gone backwards after it recorded a disastrous most recent ratings result that saw it hit just 3.4 per cent. Read the full article at The Australian

Mining revenue slump puts Labor’s tax and spending plans under pressure A sharp fall in mining royalties and resources tax payments—about $25 billion over two years—has reignited debate over whether governments can rely on commodity windfalls to fund budgets and promises. With Labor considering higher imposts on the sector, the story sharpens the political and economic stakes ahead of internal policy fights on resources taxation. Covered by: The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald. Clean-energy “zombie projects” threaten Australia’s 2030 targets Concerns are growing that Labor’s Capacity Investment Scheme is backing renewable projects that are delayed or may never be built, risking a gap between announced capacity and real-world generation. Investors and experts are calling for policy tweaks to reduce bottlenecks and improve delivery certainty—crucial as the grid transitions and coal exits accelerate. Covered by: Australian Financial Review, The Australian. Foreign in

Georgie Healy, host of the In the Blink of AI podcast, says the show is built entirely around the audience. "It's all about making sure my listeners get value out of my guests," she said on Influencing Insider last Thursday. "My job is to make it entertaining, make it useful, give people something they can understand at home. “I've got an expert on the show to give their take, and it's my job to make sure I get the best that's out of their brain onto the episode for the audience.”  One way Healy does that is by asking guests for their best AI hack. She discovered one guest uses AI to curate a personalised wine menu. She is also not afraid to pursue unconventional lines of questioning, recalling how she once asked Notion chief executive Ivan Zhao what it was like growing up as a middle child. She advised PR practitioners pitching guests to do their research on In the Blink of AI first, before explaining why their guest is a good fit.  Healy said pitches that stand out in