Wilton leaves CommsDay after 11 years
By Craig Daveson in Media News on Friday, 07th December 2018 at 12:37pmDecisive Publishing announced in today’s CommsDay newsletter that group editorial director Petroc Wilton is leaving the company.
Wilton has been a fixture within the CommsDay newsletter and wider telco community for 11 years, and founder Grahame Lynch wrote in today’s edition: “For many people, Petroc was the face, heart and soul of CommsDay."“He will definitely be missed, but we are also proud that he will employ his considerable talents to publicising efforts to resolve one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises."
“All of us at CommsDay extend our best wishes and goodwill to him.”
In his new role, Wilton has been named as a communications officer for the United Nations in Uganda, where he will work...
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THE BRIEF: Attacks
By Tony Bosworth in Media News on Wednesday, 21st January 2026 at 6:09am
Welcome to Wednesday and in Sydney there's one main story - shark attacks - and that makes the front pages of both The Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph, the latter devoting no less than the front page and pages 4 to 7 to the attacks, the victims, and what to do about the sharks. Ex-PM Tony Abbott wades into the controversy with the Tele's front page headline blaring 'WE NEED TO CULL', under a 'BEACH FRENZY' strapline. Abbott - described as 'an avid surfer and volunteer lifesaver' - calls for the reintroduction of the state's shark fishery.
The Tele have a big team on this story, with Zoe Smith and Freya Parsons penning a guide on to 'How to stay safe in peak season', the 'peak season' mention kind of pointing to one of the issues, David Southwell, Janine Watson and William Tyson on some of the people attacked and bitten, including an interview with a man who had 18 stitches "after
PCI calls Punjab govt’s move against Punjabi Kesari an assault on press freedom
By Staff Writer in Media News on Tuesday, 20th January 2026 at 10:13pm
The Press Club of India (PCI) has strongly condemned the Punjab government’s alleged attempt to stop the publication and circulation of the Punjabi Kesari newspaper, calling the move “deeply disturbing” and a direct assault on press freedom.
In a statement issued on Friday, the PCI said it was shocked by reports that police forces were deployed at various centres to disrupt circulation. The action reportedly followed a January 15, 2026 letter addressed to the Chief Minister of Punjab, in which the government allegedly threatened to cancel the newspaper’s advertisement releases and electricity supply.
The PCI warned that such intimidation strikes at the foundation of democracy. “Press freedom would be rendered meaningless if authorities disrupt the printing or circulation of newspapers. This is a grave violation of the fundamental right to freedom of expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution,” the statement said.
Citing the Supreme Court’s landmark Ben
FOURTH RIGHT: How tax law is being used to keep media under pressure
By Pragadish Kirubakaran in Media News on Tuesday, 20th January 2026 at 3:55pm
Image edited by Dinesh Raj M
In a sharply worded judgment, the court quashed income tax reassessment notices issued in 2016 against Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, founders of NDTV. The notices attempted to reopen a 2009–10 assessment that had already been scrutinised and closed in 2013, this time by treating notional interest on loans from RRPR Holding as taxable income. No new facts. No fresh evidence. Just a second reopening, triggered by a complaint and justified through bureaucratic contortions.
The court wasn’t impressed. It called the exercise arbitrary, labelled it harassment, called the move legally untenable, violative of fundamental rights and even imposed Rs 2 lakh in costs on the tax department and nullified all consequential proceedings. The message was blunt: once an assessment has been examined and concluded, the state does not get endless attempts to revisit it unless new material facts emerge.
This is where the story becomes bigger than NDTV.
Sainsbury’s Dancesport documentary aims to welcome new audience
By Will McLennan in Media News on Tuesday, 20th January 2026 at 3:03pm
Digitally Downloaded editor Matthew Sainsbury is making a documentary on Dancesport to promote the discipline and support his upcoming video game, The Last Waltz.
“I've always wanted to promote Dancesport because I love it. It's given me so much over the last 15 years that I've been involved with it, and I'm always looking for opportunities to give back and promote the sport.
“[The documentary] was coincidental, but it has always been something that I wanted to do.”
Sainsbury said the idea for the documentary came while he was at the backend of The Last Waltz development.
“I realised, one of the challenges I have is that Dancesport is somewhat niche, which makes it difficult to get an audience enthusiastic about playing it.
“So the best way was to show people clips of the dancing and see what the sport looks like. I then realised I’ve got the camera guy, we've had Australia's best dances together, and I'm a journalist, let's get these dancers on camera asking q
ASJC announces Neeljyoti Tripura Sports Honour ceremony on March 15
By Staff Writer in Media News on Tuesday, 20th January 2026 at 2:11pm
The Agartala Sports Journalists’ Club, Tripura’s largest association of sports reporters and photojournalists, has announced that the 2025 Niljyoti Tripura Sports Honour award ceremony will be held on March 15 at the Agartala Press Club on January 18, 2026.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the club’s executive committee, with the event scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
According to the Tripura Chronicle, athletes and sports organisers from six disciplines such as football, cricket, yoga, athletics, gymnastics, and swimming will be honoured.
The club will also present the Gautam Kar Bhowmik Memorial Award and the Biswajit Sharma Memorial Award to one sports journalist and one sports photojournalist.
Cricketers Moni Shankar Mura Singh and Annapurna Das will be specially honoured for completing 100 matches each. The award enters its second edition.
Epitome: We have liftoff…
By Tony Bosworth, Will McLennan in Media News on Tuesday, 20th January 2026 at 11:46am
Tuesday, 20 January 2026 | Gilmour Space may have only been able - so far - to get its rocket off the ground for 14 short seconds before it crashed back down to earth but it seems that short flight has done the trick - the company has now become a unicorn, thanks to an extra $217 million to fund future launches.
As Tess Bennett so ably put it at The Fin this morning, “The Australian rocket start-up that has ambitions to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has become the country’s newest unicorn after raising millions of dollars and securing a valuation of more than $1 billion.”
It’s taken off indeed, and the valuation and now available funds allow the Aussie company to truly reach for the stars.
If the company can succeed in getting its rockets reliably into orbit, it will compete with the likes of SpaceX and RocketLab by delivering satellites into space for business, defence and government customers, and it will also give Australia a much d
Isabella Higgins takes over as presenter of ABC's AM
By Tony Bosworth in Media News on Tuesday, 20th January 2026 at 8:45am
Isabella Higgins has been named as the new presenter of ABC audio current affairs flagship AM, with listeners hearing the news this morning.
The senior journalist and proud Torres Strait Islander woman joined the ABC in 2014 and has worked as a metropolitan and regional news reporter, as National Indigenous Affairs Correspondent, Europe Correspondent and National Social Affairs Reporter. She was also a senior reporter on the Voice referendum.
Each morning AM sets the day’s agenda with the latest stories and developments and interviews with political leaders and other newsmakers.
Higgins takes over at the program from Sabra Lane, who announced in December she was leaving the role after nine years.
Higgins said: "It's an absolute privilege to take on this role at AM, a program with such a stron
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