A Kashmiri who was asked her caste before her religion. A Bengali who arrived when he was 11 years old and never left. On Influencing Insider, Tabeenah Anjum and Deep Mukherjee explain how two outsiders came to write From Dynasties to Democracy, the book Rajasthan's politics had been waiting for. Early in her reporting career in Rajasthan, Tabeenah Anjum assumed her name had already answered the most personal question anyone could ask her. She was wrong about the question. "Tumhari jaati kya hai?" she was asked. What is your caste? A Kashmiri new to Jaipur, she genuinely did not know. "I said, I don't know. I will have to check." A state where caste can outrank religion in the order of introductions is a state that deserves a better explanation than forts and camels. From Dynasties to Democracy: Politics, Caste and Power Struggles in Rajasthan, by journalists Tabeenah Anjum and Deep Mukherjee, is the first serious attempt in English to provide on

  YouTube remains the platform most Indians reach for when they want news online, but the latest data suggests its lead has stopped widening, while Instagram and WhatsApp are pulling in news audiences far faster. According to the Reuters Digital News Report 2026, produced in collaboration with the Asian College of Journalism, released on June 16, nearly 58 per cent of respondents in India said they use YouTube for news. However, it is imperative to note the figure draws on the report's online sample, which is mainly English-speaking and not nationally representative, but within that audience, YouTube sits at the top of the table. What the same table shows, though, is that YouTube's usage for news rose only three percentage points over the year, barely above the threshold the report treats as significant. Instagram, by contrast, climbed eight points to 45 per cent, and WhatsApp rose 10 points to 56 per cent, now almost level with YouTube. In other words, the platform everyone nam

Tuesday, 16 June 2026 #1  ·  Times Nation  ·  In-depth feature India & Slovakia upgrade ties, seek reform of global bodies By Sachin Parashar, Manash Gohain   ·   The Times of India (New Delhi Edition)  ·  Page 16 PM Narendra Modi became the first Indian PM to visit Slovakia in 33 years, elevating bilateral ties to a comprehensive partnership covering defence, AI, space and civil nuclear energy. The two sides announced over a dozen outcomes including a joint counterterrorism working group, a defence cooperation letter of intent, and an MoU on labour migration, set against the backdrop of Modi's broader reading of a fractured Europe. A companion analytical piece contextualises Slovakia's geopolitical ambivalence within the EU-NATO framework and India's strategic calculus in deepening ties with a state hedging between West and East. The pairing of a straight diplomatic report with a sharp contextua

GadgetGuy editor Chris Button has outlined what PR professionals should know before pitching the consumer technology publication, starting with what not to send. "Sometimes I do get pitched some tech stories which are a little more on the enterprise and business side," Button said on Influencing Insider last week. "If it's too business-centric, then it's generally not a fit for GadgetGuy, so I think understanding that difference is important. "Also, understand that we are very product-centric, so contact us with your product launches or important information about the latest gadgets or gadget trends." Button said image assets matter too, with a clear preference for clean product photography.  "Having immediate access to spokespeople, good media assets as well, preferably assets that don't have text overlaid over the top of them, because we much prefer just to provide clean imagery of the products without any text or marking materials over the top." On responsiveness, he said qu

A man has been charged by police after he did the thing that media organisations have been trying to do for some weeks – name the high-profile mystery man involved in a Queensland extortion case. Last week, a Queensland magistrate ordered that the name of a man with a "high public profile" be suppressed. The case involves an extortion attempt against a woman the man was allegedly having an affair with. The case has now reached the Supreme Court. Media outlets including Nine Publishing, News Corp Australia and the ABC have joined proceedings to lift the non-publication order. Yesterday, a Cairns man who revealed the identity of the man in social media posts was charged by police with disobeying the suppression order. According to the ABC, the man "has an extensive criminal history but is not personally involved in the extortion case and it was quite by chance that he happened to be in court more than two weeks ago when the matter

Vinyl Group has instructed Pedestrian staff to work from home as it works through a restructure that will result in more media redundancies. Jennifer Duke at Capital Brief yesterday cited an email sent to staff that said “some roles” would be impacted by a review of the combined operational requirements. “Following that review, we have made the difficult decision that some roles across the Pedestrian team will be affected,” the email said. “We know this kind of news is unsettling, and I’m sorry that we can’t make it easier.” Staff were asked to work from home during the process and affected staff were to receive communications regarding their role on Monday. Vinyl provided a statement to Capital Brief which said: ““Like any business, we need to look at how it was operating and see what adjustments need to be made for it to become sustainable”. Read the full story at Capital Brief  

Rinehart’s $1.4b SpaceX punt puts Australian capital on the US tech rocket Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has taken a reported $1.4 billion stake in SpaceX following its IPO, with Rinehart publicly praising Elon Musk and framing the investment as backing Western technological leadership. Beyond the eye-watering price tag, the story spotlights how Australian wealth is increasingly chasing US growth and innovation—raising questions about local market competitiveness and national investment priorities. Covered by: Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The West Australian, Australian Financial Review. Iran ceasefire claims ease oil jitters, but the fine print still threatens global shockwaves Multiple papers report Donald Trump declaring a US–Iran ceasefire that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, helping cool oil-price anxiety—but with major unresolved issues including Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions settings, and wider regiona