Harrison Polites has dropped the paywall on his gaming Substack, Infinite Lives, in a bid to bolster the publication's growth, and is part of a wider rethink as to what monetisation looks like for the publication.  Polites introduced the paywall last year under a model that allowed readers to access new stories for a limited time before they moved behind a subscription barrier. He told Influencing most paid subscribers signed up to support his work rather than gain access to archived content. That noted, access to the archives did tempt some people, “But what [people] did was sign up, read the article, and then unsubscribe, which wasn't necessarily the plan.” Polites said the paywall had nevertheless achieved its objectives. “It proved that my writing was worth paying for… It also proved that people believe in the mission of what I'm doing, which is trying to find a way to make gaming journalism more sustainable”.  Polites said Infinite Lives' subscriber base had ne

The Walkley Foundations have confirmed that former ABC journalist Ben Butler has resigned as head of the chair of the Walkley judging committee, following allegations that he was heard to say a colleague should be ““killed and buried in a shallow grave”. He has been replaced by Gay ­Alcorn of The Age. Alcorn is a three-time Walkley Award winner and a senior writer with Good Weekend magazine. Butler’s resignation follows The Australian’s media editor James Madden reporting on allegations of the offensive comments made during a “heated phone conversation” in the ABC’s Melbourne newsroom. Butler resigned from the ABC following the incident, but Butler told The Australian that the events “appear to reflect a distorted version of an overheard private conversation. I resigned from the ABC following a series of short-term contracts.”  Announcing the change of the chair, the Walkley Foundation would only confirm that “Ben Butler has resigned as the chair of the

ASIO sounds alarm on Iran-linked plots and a worsening terror landscape ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has warned the “probable” terror threat setting may understate the real danger, flagging a more volatile mix of ideologies and the prospect of Iran-aligned networks attempting violence in Australia. The intervention sharpens pressure on government to recalibrate public threat messaging and bolster counter-terror and foreign-interference settings amid heightened community anxiety. Covered by: The Australian, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian. Karl Stefanovic fallout deepens as Nine weighs exit after far-right podcast storm Channel Nine is grappling with reputational and commercial blowback after Karl Stefanovic’s podcast interview with British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, with reports ranging from negotiations over his departure to claims he has already been dropped from the Today role. The episode underscores how quickly talent controversies can trigger

Madhur Singh, founder of Climate Action Live, has issued a call for pitches from journalists, researchers, and practitioners across the climate ecosystem. The platform is seeking evidence-based stories focused on climate solutions, including AI and climate transition, grassroots innovation, emerging climate technologies, policy and accountability, and the global climate transition. Formats welcomed include reported features, investigations, explainers, profiles, data stories, and visual journalism. Interested contributors are invited to send a 200–300 word pitch, along with a reporting plan, key sources, and links to previous work, to info@climateaction.live. writing and news media.   

Ask a man who has just received the country's second-highest civilian honour what he would tell the next generation, and you expect a speech. P. Narayanan gave the opposite. "I'm not a big person to advise anyone," the 90-year-old told Influencing, with the flatness of someone who means it. Then, almost reluctantly, he allowed himself one line: journalists, he said, should try their best to bring the issues faced by ordinary people to light. That is the entire instruction. No talk of influence, access or legacy. Just the work, pointed outward, away from the journalist and toward the people the journalism is supposed to serve. For anyone who has watched Narayanan's six decades in Malayalam journalism, it is less a piece of advice than a description of what he has always done. Narayanan was conferred the Padma Vibhushan in the field of Literature and Education, one of only five recipients of the award this year. He was presented the honour at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delh

NDTV.com has retained the top position among English news websites in the latest Comscore MMX Multi-Platform rankings for May 2026, marking its fifth consecutive month at No. 1 since January.  According to the May 2026 Comscore rankings for desktop and mobile platforms, NDTV.com recorded 45.5 million unique visitors, maintaining its lead during a month dominated by intense news coverage, including state elections, geopolitical developments, conflict, and global events.  The rankings reflect the platform's sustained audience engagement across a wide range of news categories, including politics, business, international affairs, and breaking news.  Commenting on the achievement, Managing Editors Abhinav Bhatt and Padmaja Joshi said May was an exceptionally busy news month, with the newsroom closely tracking developments in India as well as major international events, particularly the conflict in West Asia. They said retaining the top position for the fifth consecut

Wednesday, 24 June 2026 #1  ·  Times City  ·  Breaking news / Investigative How Dad's Memory, Digital Trail Led Police To Suspect In 7 Hours By Abhay   ·   The Times of India  ·  Page 8 A 10-year-old homeless girl sleeping on a Delhi footpath with her family was abducted and murdered by cab driver Basu Kumar Singh, 29, who stalked her for 45 minutes before the assault. Police cracked the case in under seven hours by cross-referencing GPS latitude-longitude data from three cab aggregators with footage from 70 CCTV cameras to construct a digital trail of the suspect's vehicle. Singh was apprehended in west Delhi's Vikaspuri, confessed under interrogation, and was shot in the leg after attempting to snatch a police weapon during crime-scene reconstruction. The story deploys multiple layers of original reporting — father's firsthand account at the mortuary, granular reconstruction of the invest