The X account of Azad Essa, a US-based South African journalist and senior reporter with Middle East Eye, has reportedly been withheld in India following a government order under the Information Technology Act. According to Madhyamam, Essa said he received an email from X on February 20 stating that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had invoked Section 69A of the IT Act to restrict access to his handle within India. The email said the account would remain accessible outside India and advised him of legal remedies. Essa said no specific reason was provided and described the move as concerning, linking it to his reporting on India–Israel ties.

Morning and welcome to Thursday on a day when the News Corp titles go in heavy on Treasurer Jim Chalmers as inflation remains - as one pundit put it - 'sticky', and there are fears of more interest rate rises. The Australian leads the charge. It's front pager by Thomas Henry and Richard Ferguson ('Spend big: PM's 'ticket' to reform) doesn't exactly thunder as it lays out the situation but the masthead has the advantage of Albo appearing at the Herald Sun’s Future Victoria Conference in Melbourne, where the PM said he needed to follow through with the big spending items to show Australians that the economy “works for them”. There's also a picture of the PM at the conference by Martin Ollman for News Corp's Newswire.  The News Corp tabloids do come out swinging with a punchier story - at least in terms of the language used - by John Rolfe which makes its appearance in The Daily

Prasar Bharati has invited applications for the allotment of vacant MPEG-4 slots on the DD Free Dish platform for the period from April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027. The public broadcaster will conduct the allotment through its 8th annual (97th overall) online e-auction, which is tentatively scheduled for March 16, 2026 . According to the notice issued on February 9, the e-auction will be carried out in line with the E-auction Methodology 2025, including its latest amendments. Only satellite television channels permitted and licensed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will be eligible to participate. International public broadcasters licensed by the ministry can also take part in the auction. The vacant slots have been categorised into multiple buckets based on genre and language, including HD channels, regional language channels, news and current affairs channels, non-news channels, and general open categories. Reserve prices for MPEG-4 slots vary across buckets, starti

Estée Lauder has appointed WPP as its global media agency, consolidating media duties across its portfolio of brands, including MAC, Clinique, and the flagship Estée Lauder line. WPP was selected for its track record in innovative media solutions and a deep understanding of global market dynamics. Under the new partnership, WPP will manage media buying across all markets for the company, according to media reports. The announcement comes on the back of a strong fiscal 2026 second-quarter performance, with Estée Lauder reporting a 6 per cent increase in net sales to US$4.2 billion. Gross margin expanded to 76.5 per cent, up 40 basis points from the previous quarter, supported by net benefits from the company’s Profit Recovery and Growth Plan (PRGP). These gains were partially offset by incremental tariffs, shifts in business mix, and inflationary pressures. For the six months ending 31 December 2025, net cash flows from operating activities rose significan

Mar-tech network Wondrlab is reportedly in discussions to acquire advertising agency Madison World, though no deal has been confirmed. Saurabh Varma, Founder and CEO of Wondrlab, said the agency is actively evaluating acquisition opportunities as part of its strategy to scale and strengthen its platform-first, full-funnel marketing offerings, according to Social Samosa.   Wondrlab, launched in November 2020, has completed multiple acquisitions, including creative, influencer, performance marketing, and tech firms, both in India and internationally. Madison, founded by Sam Balsara, is reportedly valued at around Rs 1,000 crore. A successful deal would mark the largest Indian agency acquisition by another Indian firm. Madison has previously drawn interest from global groups including WPP, Publicis, Dentsu, and Havas. 

Image credit: Kashmir News Service  A team of media persons from Jammu on Sunday, February 22, began a study tour of Gujarat to gain first-hand exposure to key development projects and institutions in the state. The tour was organised by the Press Information Bureau, Jammu. On arrival in Ahmedabad, the delegation met Prashant Pathrabe, Director General, PIB Ahmedabad, who briefed them on Gujarat’s socio-economic profile and ongoing infrastructure initiatives. The delegation is led by PIB Jammu Director Neha Jalali. During the visit, the journalists toured Kochrab Ashram, associated with Mahatma Gandhi, and reviewed progress of the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project and the Sabarmati multimodal hub being developed by National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited.

There are journalists who cover the environment, and there are journalists who inhabit it. Aparna Ganesan belongs to the second category. Across India’s coastal belts, farming collectives, forgotten species habitats and climate-stressed communities, her work reads like a field diary stitched together with empathy, curiosity and an unusually sharp eye for visual detail. If you’ve watched any of her documentaries for DW Eco India, or her earlier regional films at Asiaville, you’ll notice something immediately: she never tells a story from a distance. She lives inside it. During our Influencing Insider conversation, Aparna walked us through that journey — from a mobile-shot college documentary to award-winning climate films — with the same raw honesty she brings to her reporting. What followed was a rare look into the mind of a filmmaker who has quietly become one of India’s most grounded voices in environmental journalism. The origin story: a mob