Influencing CEO Phil Sim at last year’s event. Influencing has announced the return of the IT Journalism Awards - widely and fondly known as the Lizzies - with the 2026 ceremony locked in for Friday March 27 at Sydney’s Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf. The annual celebration brings together technology reporters, editors, creators, and publishers to recognise excellence in Australian tech journalism. Entries for the 2026 awards open today, Tuesday December 2, and close on 6 February 2026. Get your entries in now.  Peer-judged and independently run, the Lizzies will again honour standout reporting across 28 categories. This year’s program also expands to include five new awards, among them Best Editorial Series Coverage, Best Specialist Titles, and a new Gold Lizzie for Best Coverage. Phil Sim, CEO of Influencing, said the additions reflect both the growth of the awards and the need to spotlight a broader spectrum of outlets. “As the Lizzies have grown

CPR Global has bagged the communications and public relations mandate for str8bat, a fast-growing sports technology company known for its cricket performance analytics tools. Under this partnership, CPR Global will lead str8bat’s media relations, strategic communication and stakeholder engagement efforts across India, aiming to boost the brand’s visibility in the sports-tech space. str8bat, which offers real-time performance insights for cricketers, is known for its flagship devices — the str8bat Classic and the AI-powered str8bat Pro. Both tools help players track and refine their batting technique with precision. The company has collaborated with major cricketing institutions, including Cricket Australia and Rajasthan Royals, and is endorsed by former cricketers Kiran More and Greg Chappell. The brand has also expanded its reach globally, now present in 10 markets including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa. CPR Global said the partn

Picture courtesy TNIE Senior journalists at the SOA Literary Festival 2025 voiced concern over the increasing dominance of narratives and noise over factual reporting, stressing that journalism must return to evidence-based news. The discussion took place during a session titled Noise, News, Narrative: Whose Truth Do We Trust on Sunday. Santwana Bhattacharya, editor of The New Indian Express Group, said the primary duty of a journalist is to present the truth. “There is noise, often deliberate and engineered, but our responsibility is to pick up facts from the ground and present them to people. News is evidence-based and should not follow a narrative,” she was quoted by The New India Express. Citing the recent Bihar elections, she noted that a narrative regarding Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s health and the special intensive revision of the voters’ list had been built from Delhi. However, during her visit to the state, she found ground sentiment reflecting sympathy for Kum

Welcome to Tuesday and a 'picture exclusive' this morning at the Daily Telegraph - story by Jessica Wang - on PM Albanese and now wife Jodie Haydon, jetting off "on a short, romantic honeymoon". And fair enough. Congratulations on the nuptials.  While Albo is away his PM duties will be split between Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles, the latter in the crosshairs - pardon the military pun - in most of what we used to call the broadsheets this morning after Marles claimed the biggest Defence reforms in 50 years. But according to several of the papers this is not much more than a reshuffling of chairs. The Australian leads the charge with a story by Ben Packham and Noah Yim and a clever enough headline ('More bangs for bucks in ALP's sights') and Greg Sheridan calls it out saying it's "a minor bureaucratic reshuffle in the vaguest possible terms". The headline on that one is another play

  PUWJ said that despite being invited to cover the ceremony, journalists were abruptly moved to a seating area from where they could not photograph or record the address of the Reviewing Officer, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi. The union has submitted a formal complaint seeking a detailed inquiry into the incident. Journalists also objected to a remark by an officer who allegedly dismissed previous media coverage as a flop show. PUWJ called the comment baseless and pointed out that earlier NDA events had consistently received strong coverage across print, television, digital platforms and social media. They highlighted the passing out of the first batch of women cadets earlier this year, which had drawn worldwide attention. “Such behaviour undermines the role and responsibility of the press,” PUWJ president Brijmohan Patil said in the complaint, as quoted by The Free Press Journal.    

Bengaluru police have arrested the editor of a local Kannada tabloid for allegedly cheating a woman by promising her a post in a non-existent State press council. According to The Hindu, The Govindaraja Nagar police picked up the accused, Shivakumar T. Nagara Navile, from Kempegowda International Airport on Thursday, moments before he was to board a flight to Oman for an event. The arrest followed a complaint by Meenakshi B., who alleged that Shivakumar posed as president of a so-called “State press council” and offered her the position of “State president for women journalist council”. He allegedly collected more than Rs 50,000 from her to facilitate her travel to Singapore for the 2024 Vishishta Kannada Habba programmes. Police said Shivakumar later sought more money under the pretext of organising the event. Believing him, the complainant reportedly paid Rs 25 lakh over several transactions, borrowing from relatives and friends and even pawning her gold. The fraud surf