Morning, welcome to the first issue of The Brief for 2026, and hope you all had a decent start to the new year. Over in Victoria many people of course didn't get that restful break as out of control bush and grass fires swept through several communities, and that gets a lot of coverage in our dailies this morning.  The sense of despair of those affected is ably covered by The Australian which had a good-sized team on this. 'Hundreds of home wiped from the map as state wakes to death and destruction' is the headline on a piece by Damon Johnstone, Mohammed Alfares, John Ferguson and Liam Mendes and that's coupled with a picture of 13-year-old Violet Mitchell sitting in the ruins of the family home and cuddling one of the family's surviving chickens.  The Melbourne-based papers - The Age and Herald Sun - not surprisingly also cover the fires in-depth (many of which are still burning) with Nine's daily using it as the main

Vigor Media Worldwide has secured the media and public relations mandate for Vikram Roller Flour Mills Limited, as the agro-products company looks to strengthen its communication efforts while expanding its presence across regions. The mandate will be handled from the agency’s Delhi-NCR office and will focus on media outreach and brand communication. Established in 1973, Vikram Roller Flour Mills manufactures wheat-based staples including atta, maida, sooji, dalia and basmati rice. Its products cater to both household consumers through leading e-commerce platforms and institutional buyers such as hotels, bakeries and FMCG brands. Speaking on the association, Shubham Garg, Director, Vikram Roller Flour Mills Limited, said, “Vikram Roller Flour Mills has a long presence in the market and is recognised for the quality of its products. As the company continues to engage with markets and stakeholders across regions, communication plays an important role. In this context, we

Gozoop Creative has partnered with CookieMan India, the well-known Australian-origin cookie brand, as its digital and creative agency. The mandate includes digital strategy, creative output, social media, and brand storytelling to deepen the brand’s connection with Indian consumers. The partnership launches with CookieMan India’s holiday campaign titled “CookieMan Got Me Grooving.” The campaign captures festive cheer by combining music with the inviting aroma of freshly baked cookies. Built on the insight that a single whiff of cookies can instantly lift moods, the film presents CookieMan as a joyful, shareable holiday treat. The campaign is supported by teaser reels that create excitement around CookieMan’s aroma-driven appeal, followed by influencer collaborations in key Indian cities. It also showcases the brand’s festive gifting range along with popular variants such as soft and chewy and chocolate chunk cookies. Sanjay Mishra, Chairman of

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