Welcome to Tuesday and there's something fishy going on at the Sydney Morning Herald. C'mon, that's no worse a pun than the paper's front page headline this morning. But let's cut the SMH some slack - yesterday, eventually (over a year behind schedule) the new Sydney Fish Market opened its doors and the response was terrific as punters flooded in and crustaceans probably trembled in trepidation. The story gets two full pages inside the Herald with more pictures (by Wolter Peeters, Kate Gerraghty and Dominic Lorrimer) and plenty of words from Megan Gorrey, David Barwell, Cindy Yin, Bianca Hrovat, and the appropriately-surnamed Aidan Elwig Pollack.  Now, on to other news and the continuing saga of the on-again-off-again hate speech laws continues to get plenty of coverage, most notably at The Australian this morning where most of the front page is devoted to the rolling story and the main piece by Elizabeth Pike, Richard Ferguson

The BJP Punjab has written to Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, raising concerns over media freedom and law and order in the state. In a January 17, 2026 letter, BJP state president Sunil Jakhar said the situation has worsened and people feel unsafe.  The BJP alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party-led state government under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is suppressing media freedom to stop reporting on rising crime. It claimed journalists and media houses, including the Punjab Kesari Group, are being targeted through police cases and raids to intimidate editors.  According to the Rozana Spokesman, the letter noted Punjab Kesari’s role during terrorism and said suppressing the media is undemocratic. The BJP urged the Governor to direct the chief minister to stop the alleged repression and restore law and order.  A BJP delegation also met the Governor and submitted a memorandum seeking the summoning of the DGP and Home Minister. BJP leade

Born during the turbulent years of the Indo-Naga conflict, the formation of the Kohima Press Club in 2001 marked a turning point in Nagaland’s media history. In its early days, journalists worked from small borrowed spaces, filing stories through telephone and fax while facing constant pressure and warning calls.   Recalling those times, KPC Advisor and former President Kopelo Krome spoke of working under threats, even as the first drafting committee of the KPC constitution laid the foundation for an independent press body.  Over the next 25 years, KPC grew into a key institution for journalism in the state. In 2019, Alice Yhoshü created history by becoming the first woman president, a position she continues to hold. Under her leadership, the club introduced landmark initiatives such as the KPC Impact Journalism Award and the state’s only media fellowship programme for local journalists, as per the reports

Picture Credit: The Hindu  Sarath Babu George, Principal Correspondent with The Hindu at its Thiruvananthapuram bureau, has been honoured with the Best Reporter in Print Media (English) award for his coverage of the 63rd Kerala State School Arts Festival held in the capital district during 2024–25. The award was presented by Revenue Minister K. Rajan at the valedictory function of the 64th School Arts Festival on Sunday, in the presence of Education Minister V. Sivankutty and General Education Secretary K. Vasuki. The honour includes a cash prize of Rs 20,000, along with a citation and a certificate.

Image edited by Dinesh Raj M   Indian elections have always been loud. What has changed is who controls the volume and who decides what counts as truth. With four states and one Union Territory heading to the polls in barely 10 weeks, the 2026 election cycle is already being framed by newsrooms as a test case for India’s hybrid democracy, writes Derek O'Brien TMC MP in his op-ed for The Indian Express. Not quite the full-blown “AI election” predicted for 2029, but something arguably more destabilising. A phase where traditional campaigning, social media virality, influencer politics, and artificial intelligence coexist, overlap, and often collide. Fake news, often treated as a moral failing or a fringe problem, has quietly become a structural feature of elections. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner defines it as fictional news designed to push an agenda. In India, it operates more like yellow journalism on steroids, turbocharged by algorithms that

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday condemned the alleged assault on a woman journalist during recent violence in Murshidabad’s Beldanga and called upon women and the youth to take the lead in ending what he described as an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in West Bengal. Speaking at a rally in Malda, he linked the incident to the unrest that followed the death of a migrant worker and alleged that journalists and ordinary citizens were unsafe under the Trinamool Congress government. According to The Print, Prime Minister’s remarks come amid a renewed political focus on women’s safety in the state, where women form nearly half of the electorate and have traditionally been a key support base of the ruling party through various welfare schemes. The violence in Beldanga was triggered by the death of 36-year-old Alauddin Sheikh, a resident of Sujapur Kumarpur gram panchayat area in Murshidabad, whose body was found in his rented accommodation in Jharkhand, where he worked

International technology news outfit TechDay are celebrating a strong start to 2026 after welcoming six new employees. The appointments follow a period of strong growth for the company, which produces the CFOtech, ChannelBrief, eCommerceNews, FutureFive, ITBrief, SecurityBrief, and Telco News titles.   “December was a record month for revenue, readership and the number of interviews completed,” said Publisher Sean Mitchell.  “2025 was a stellar year for us, revenue was up about 49%, and our expansion into the US and Canada has been a tremendous success,” he also told Influencing.  The hires include four new journalists, with Mark Tarre joining as News Chief, bringing over a decade of journalism and communications experience. Karen Joy Bacudo joins as Finance Editor, having recently graduated from Isabela State University in July 2025.  Two new news editors are Joseph Gabriel Lagonsin, joining from New York Weekly, aswell as Sofia