Chandrashekhar “Chandu” Kulkarni, one of Marathi journalism’s most respected editors and investigative reporters, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 61. Kulkarni began his career with Navshakti in 1985 before serving in editorial roles at Sakal, Maharashtra Times, Loksatta, and the Lokmat Group. He was widely known for his pioneering food column “Chatakdar”, considered among the first dedicated restaurant and food columns in Marathi journalism. He also earned acclaim for his investigative reports exposing corruption in private engineering colleges and irregularities in prisons, work that won him the Yamunabai Khadilkar Investigative Journalism Award. Beyond journalism, Kulkarni authored, translated, and edited several books, remained closely associated with science and education, and presided over the Science Literature Conference in 2017, ABPLive reported. Mourning his passing, actress Ashvini Bhave wrote: “It is hard to accept that you are no longer with us, Chand

BARC India has suspended the publication of weekly television ratings after being directed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to withhold data until it receives approval under the new TV Ratings Policy 2026.  In an advisory to subscribers, BARC said no ratings data would be released with immediate effect, including the scheduled 11 am publication on Thursday.  The move comes despite BARC applying within the revised compliance timeline and preparing to implement the policy's landing-page exclusion framework. However, the rollout was stalled after the Kerala High Court stayed the relevant provision in May.  Industry executives have raised concerns that the suspension could push the television sector into another data-dark phase, affecting advertising, media planning.  

Thursday, 2 July 2026 #1  ·  Times Nation  ·  In-depth feature 100 days on, less than 1% of Bengal SIR cases have been disposed By Debashis Konar, Srishti Lakhotia   ·   The Times of India, New Delhi  ·  Page 6 West Bengal's 19 Special Investigation of Rolls (SIR) tribunals have disposed of only around 30,000 of 33 lakh pending appeals in 100 days since becoming operational — less than 1%. At the current pace, clearing the backlog would take over 25 years. The report also details resignations by senior judges, the absence of online tracking infrastructure, and the cascading human consequences including a young Agniveer aspirant temporarily denied police clearance due to SIR deletions. The story combines hard data, institutional accountability, and a concrete human-impact case (the Agniveer aspirant) to illustrate systemic failure across judiciary, state administration and Election Commission — a

The Journalists' Development Union of Tripura (JDUT) has condemned remarks allegedly made by Tripura BJP IT Cell In-Charge Chandan Debnath against the state's media, after he reportedly referred to journalists as "Jan-Shatru" (enemy of the people). The remarks have triggered outrage among journalists across the state, with JDUT demanding a public apology and warning of a democratic protest if Debnath fails to comply. The controversy stems from the Tripura government's recent decision to bar senior doctors from private practice. On Tuesday, the resulting rush of patients to GBP Hospital and Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) led to overcrowding, straining the hospitals' limited infrastructure, a situation several news organisations covered. Speaking to Influencing, JDUT Secretary Raju Bhowmik said, "Following the decision to prohibit private practice by senior doctors, patients who earlier visited them at private clinics were seen flocking to government hospitals, leading to

Vashi Integrated Solutions has appointed Pitchfork Partners Strategic Consulting as its strategic communications partner.  The mandate includes corporate communications, media engagement, and brand visibility initiatives aimed at strengthening Vashi's market presence and supporting its next phase of growth. The partnership will focus on building a stronger corporate narrative around the company's scale, innovation, and long-term vision.

Omnicom Media Group has won Adidas' global media mandate, valued at an estimated $512 million, ending WPP's eight-year association with the account.  According to sources, the mandate covers full-funnel media planning and buying, consumer insights, and measurement across global markets. According to reports, the business will be led by PHD within Omnicom Media Group.  The win comes as Adidas increases its marketing investments ahead of major events such as the FIFA World Cup 2026. Neither Adidas nor Omnicom has officially commented on the appointment.

Mi-3 Australia Founder Paul McIntyre has revealed he’ll be launching a new publication - Marketers & Money that’ll be initially US-focused.  Paul McIntyre (above) McIntyre announced the news in a LinkedIn post explaining the new masthead will dissect “the money end of marketing and how it links with finance teams and markets, commercial results and ultimately the P&L”.  McIntyre has co-founded the publication alongside UK-based Brendan Coyne, while McIntyre himself would be based out of New York. He’ll be taking on the Executive Editor role at the new publication.  McIntyre revealed that Marketers & Money would be building an agentic newsroom, citing that he couldn’t find the type of journalists he needed in the first place.  “Or when I do, I can’t keep them, largely because B2B publishing can’t compete with alternative careers on the economics, sustainable workloads - and increasingly the smar