Image edited by Dinesh Raj M   In India today, journalism doesn’t legally require a degree. But practically? Try walking into a national newsroom without one and see how far your CV gets. Megha Upadhyay, a reporter with ABP Network, put it bluntly. A journalism degree has become the entry pass. Not because the law demands it, but because HR departments do. Over the last four to five years, formal qualifications have quietly turned into filters. If you don’t tick the education box, your application rarely reaches an editor’s desk. That wasn’t always the case. A decade ago, curiosity, language, and field grit mattered more than certificates. Many of the biggest faces on Indian television today entered the profession without journalism degrees. Arnab Goswami, Sagarika Ghose, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sudhir Chaudhary and countless others came up in an era when newsrooms hired reporters first and polished them later. That door has narrowed. What we now have is

Two journalists were attacked and robbed while returning home from their office late Tuesday night in Ranchi, leaving one of them seriously injured. According to eTVBharat, the incident took place around 2 am near Subhash Chowk in the Sadar Police Station area. The two journalists were on their way home when two men on a motorcycle stopped them and tried to snatch their belongings. When the journalists resisted, the attackers assaulted them. During the attack, one journalist was badly injured, while the other managed to escape and call for help. Hearing the commotion, local residents rushed to the spot and chased the attackers. They caught them a short distance away and handed them over to the police. The injured journalist was taken to RIMS Hospital for treatment. The entire incident was captured on CCTV cameras installed in the area. Sadar Police Station officer Kuldeep said both accused have been arrested and legal action is being taken against them.

For a brief but significant period, a small, trans-led online magazine did what much of the mainstream media in India still struggles to do. It allowed transgender people to report on their own lives. “Mainstream media usually speaks about us, not with us or by us,” says Priya Babu, founder of the Transgender Resource Center in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. “The magazine was imagined as a space where trans people write their own stories, where lived experience is treated as knowledge.” The publication was not just a media experiment. It was a political and cultural intervention. It challenged sensational headlines, medicalised framing, and token representation by doing something simple and radical. It handed the pen to the community itself. “It functioned as both a platform and a corrective,” Priya says. “It changed who gets to speak, what stories are told, and how transgender lives are understood.”  Priya Babu  The magazine eventually had to shut down due to lack of

The Panvel Taluka Journalists Development Forum has elected Rajendra Patil as its new president and announced its executive committee during a function organised to mark Journalists’ Day on January 6.  The new body was declared by outgoing president Mandar Donde, while the programme was presided over by senior journalist and forum advisor Madhav Patil. Addressing the gathering, Donde extended his best wishes to the newly elected team for its future initiatives.  On the occasion, members of the forum reaffirmed their commitment to ethical journalism and pledged to actively oppose unethical practices in the profession. Journalists’ Day is observed annually on January 6 to commemorate the publication of Darpan, India’s first newspaper, by Acharya Balshastri Jambhekar.  As part of the event, Madhav Patil paid floral tributes to Jambhekar’s portrait.  According to the announcement, Rajendra Patil will serve

A felicitation programme was organised at the Mangalwedha Police Station on the occasion of Journalists’ Day and the birth anniversary of Darpankar Acharya Balshastri Jambhekar. Speaking on the occasion, Police Inspector Dattatray Borgidde urged journalists to continue their work with courage and impartiality and play an active role in highlighting social issues. He said journalism plays an important role in strengthening democracy by bringing both achievements and problems in society to the public. Journalists present at the programme were felicitated by the police department, Sakal reported. Image: Sakal

A delegation of journalists in Arunachal Pradesh has urged the state government to implement the Working Journalists’ Pension Scheme, which has remained pending since 2020 despite Cabinet approval. On January 8, representatives from the Arunachal Press Club (APC) and the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) met Chief Minister Pema Khandu to press for action. According to India Today NE, APC president Amar Sangno said bureaucratic delays have stalled the scheme, originally announced in the 2019–20 budget. The delegation also sought recognition for district press clubs, better coordination of media activities through them, and permanent office space for press bodies. Chief Minister Khandu acknowledged the media’s role in connecting the government with citizens and assured the delegation that their concerns would be examined. APC leaders described the meeting as encouraging and expressed hope for early action.

Image edited by Dinesh Raj M   With AI and LLM models penetrating and altering almost every aspect of our lives ever since OpenAI came out with first its ChatGPT models, can news business afford to remain the same in 2026? Experts believe this will be the year when there is a fundamental shift in the way news is consumed, thanks to AI. Imagine this: The big news across the globe today has been that a US seized a Russian oil tanker in the Atlantic. Traditionally, one would read this report from a newspaper or a digital news outlet you have subscribed to after being alerted by a notification. And perhaps, compare the same with other publications to get a balanced view. But, if the predictions in a Reuters piece titled "How will AI reshape the news in 2026?" is to go by, most consumers of news online in 2026 would actually ask their AI-enabled browsers to give details of the news by going through all available material on the same. To be more specific, those interest