Sorta Famous has officially launched in India, offering a fresh approach to brand communication. The agency wants to help companies stay relevant by combining traditional PR with today’s cultural trends. Sorta Famous has been founded by communications strategist Nandini Mahant. The agency will handle brand communication, media outreach, digital PR, thought leadership, creator partnerships, and reputation management for both new and established brands. Mahant said India’s communication space is changing fast, and brands now need more than standard PR. “Brands need cultural intelligence. We want to help them show up in ways that feel real and relevant,” she said. She added that the agency’s work will focus on clarity, creativity, and credibility. “We want to build long-term influence, not short-term hype,” Mahant said. Sorta Famous will work remotely across India for now, with plans to set up teams in major metro cities next year.

As passengers continue to suffer due to Indigo flight cancellations, the airline is likely to have its schedule cut by five percent and the same — roughly about 110 daily flights — could be given to other airlines that have the resources to add capacity. A livid govt is mulling incremental cuts to the schedule starting with five per cent, followed by additional five percent in coming days, if need be, adding that other actions are also being considered in the wake of the severe disruptions caused by flight cancellations.   Hot Off the Press In its reply to the DGCA’s show-cause notice, a “profusely apologetic” IndiGo has blamed a combination of five factors, including new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) rules and winter schedule-related changes, for its massive flight disruptions. The airline said given the scale of its operations, it is “realistically not possible to pinpoint the exact cause(s)” in the time given. It sought more

When journalist Shobana Radhakrishnan received a jury citation at the 15th Laadli Media & Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity (2025), she called the recognition both humbling and hopeful. “I’m glad it’s been recognised for a very important issue raised in the articles,” she said. “I’m grateful to Laadli and the Citizen Matters for supporting throughout the series. I hope this recognition takes the issue to policymakers, or to anyone who needs to notice it. It also encourages other journalists who work on sensitive issues.” Shobana’s award-winning series for Citizen Matters examined a critical but underreported question: how unplanned, state-led evictions in Chennai are linked to rising domestic violence in resettlement areas. Her interest in housing and displacement dates back to 2022. While reporting from different eviction sites, she repeatedly encountered the same troubling pattern, families pushed into remote areas and wo

Influencing sought comment from Press Start’s Shannon Grixti via both phone and email on several occasions but so far we’ve received no response. A community jolted by scrutiny A recent Media Watch segment examining Southern Cross Austereo-owned Press Start Australia and its Managing Editor Shannon Grixti over its handling of commercial disclosures has triggered significant debate across the country’s tech and games journalism community. The Media Watch segment investigated instances in which Press Start’s Shannon Grixti didn’t disclose his commercial interests in reviews on the publication, despite listing accompanying video reviews as Ads on personal social media platforms.  Media Watch additionally revealed Grixti’s link to an affiliate site in which reviewed items could be purchased, with Grixti gaining a commission.   Veteran reporters Alex Kidman, Leigh Stark and Steve Wright each published articles responding to the ABC program, while Nick Ross, Trevor Long

Our industry is grappling with the rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence, but just how much of a threat is it, or can AI help us do a better job? To find out, we gathered three industry experts at our annual live Insider Roundtable - Emma Bromet, Andrew Drummond and Chris Griffith shared their thoughts and experiences with AI, and looked to the future too. Emma Bromet, a partner at tech consultancy Mantel Group, pointed to the exponential growth in AI capabilities over the past year, particularly in large language models (LLMs) and multimodal models capable of generating images and videos.  However, she stressed AI's true strength lies in automating "manual repetitive tasks”. "AI is really good at doing manual repetitive tasks," Bromet said. "And much like many organisations, media businesses have lots of manual repetitive tasks... I'm seeing the real benefit is actually saving that time on the grunt work that nobody really wants to be doing and driving efficiency." Th

Morning, welcome to Tuesday and as PM Albanese might well say, and indeed has in other scenarios, the main news story across our dailies doesn't pass the pub test.  With just one day to go until the U16 social media ban comes into force, the Minister in charge of that world-first legislation - Anika Wells - is firmly in the crosshairs for what some might call lavish expenditure for herself and sometimes family members, and all of it on the public purse.  It appears the Sports and Communications Minister has done nothing wrong claiming these expenses, some of them usefully listed on a mocked-up 'Taxpayer invoice' this morning at The Australian Financial Review, but of course it's the optics during a prolonged cost of living crises. At best it's tone deaf, at worst it looks arrogant, and nobody likes that.  The AFR's front page illustrates the situation perfectly - the lead story ('Treasurer flags tough budget calls'