Legal journalist Ratna Singh criticised the practice of paid VIP darshan at major temples, saying access to places of worship should not depend on a devotee's ability to pay.  In a post on X, Singh argued that while public debate often focuses on alleged misuse of temple donations, the long-standing system of paid VIP darshan has received little scrutiny. She said the practice creates unequal access, with paying devotees receiving quicker and longer darshan while others are rushed through crowded queues.  Her remarks have triggered discussion on social media about the commercialisation of religious institutions and the increasing use of paid services at temples across India.   

Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU), Gandhinagar, has announced an 11-day residential Capacity-Building Programme in National Security Journalism, scheduled from July 27 to August 6, 2026. The programme will bring together 30 journalists from national, state and regional media organisations.  Designed for journalists covering defence, internal security, cyber security, border management, disasters and related beats, the initiative aims to strengthen responsible and accurate reporting on national security.   Participants will learn about India's security architecture, ethical reporting, information security, source protection, OSINT, AI and digital verification tools, while also gaining insights into misinformation and influence operations.  A key feature of the programme is structured field visits to national security institutions, offering participants first-hand exposure to security operations. The initiative also seeks to

The National Union of Journalists (India) [NUJ(I)] has released the list of nominations received for its 2026–2028 elections after the nomination process closed at 5 p.m. on July 7, 2026.  The list shows multiple nominations for several key posts, indicating contests for various positions. Rakesh Thapliyal has been nominated for the post of President, while Rakesh Kumar Sharma is in the fray for Secretary General. R.C. Kannoujia has been nominated for Treasurer. The Vice President's post has attracted nine candidates—Virendra Singh, MDVSR Punnam Raju, M. Yugandhar Reddy, Silveri Srisailam, Someshwar Boral, Prasanta Chakraborty, Rajiv Nayanam, Dr Rajnesh Rana, and Arvind Singh.  According to NUJ(I), all nominations were received by its office on or before the official deadline of 5 p.m. on July 7, 2026, and will now proceed to the next stage of the election process. 

A Dalit woman journalist in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram has almost everything an investigation is supposed to need. She has CCTV footage of the assault on her family. She has eyewitness accounts. She has an FIR registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, alongside other provisions. What she does not have, two weeks after the attack, is the arrest of most of the men she has accused. On Wednesday, journalists from Villupuram were set to submit a petition to the Superintendent of Police, demanding the immediate arrest of the remaining accused and a fair, speedy investigation. That collective intervention, colleagues stepping in when a reporter cannot get her own complaint acted upon, is what turns a local atrocity case into a question the whole newsroom community is now asking out loud. The reporter, who works for a private news channel and whom Influencing India is not naming because the accused remain at large and have allegedly threate

Wednesday, 8 July 2026 #1  ·  Times Nation  ·  Breaking news Indonesia 1st foreign customer of Astra missile By Surendra Singh   ·   The Times of India  ·  Page 18 Indonesia has become the first foreign buyer of India's indigenously developed beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile Astra, developed by DRDO, in a deal finalised between state-run Bharat Dynamics Ltd and Indonesian defence company Republikorp. Unlike the jointly developed BrahMos, the Astra is entirely India's own creation and saw operational use during Operation Sindoor. The missile, capable of Mach 4.5 and a range of 80–160 km, will be integrated onto Indonesia's Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 and Su-27 fighter jets. The story provides precise technical specifications and situates the Astra deal within the broader strategic significance of India's indigenous defence export ecosystem, explicitly distinguishing it from the Indo-Russ

Wednesday, 08 July, 2026 | If you’re a PR flack, crisis management has become an increasingly important part of the job. With the media under pressure to fight for attention and eyeballs, it’s fair to say that the old saying of “if it bleeds, it leads” has never been truer.  Every company has its own crisis conditions. Let’s say for example, you have a CEO who has been getting caught up in all manner of sordid dramas in his personal life, and you’re trying to keep a lid on it. More on Richard White, later. Then there is the kind of crisis where there’s just no lid that can be kept on. When things go pear shaped, everything just spills out in the public and you’ve just got to cop everything that comes your way. Such is the life of a telco PR, which the good folk at Telstra, are re-living this morning following a major outage, which just for good measure also brought down Victorian and NSW public transport systems. Yep, there&rsquo

Living standards slide sharpens political pressure Australia has recorded the steepest fall in living standards in the OECD since 2019, with high inflation, weak real wages and shrinking disposable incomes combining to squeeze households. The coverage frames the downturn as a growing political risk for the federal government as voters feel the cost-of-living hit in everyday essentials. Covered by: Australian Financial Review, The Australian. China missile test jolts Pacific security — Australia pushes pacts China’s submarine-launched, nuclear-capable missile test and the deployment of surveillance ships across the Pacific has heightened alarm in the region, with Australia and Pacific leaders condemning Beijing’s opacity. The story’s significance is the acceleration of new security arrangements—alongside a sharper public line from the Prime Minister—amid intensifying strategic competition in Australia’s near neighbourhood. Covered by: The Age, The West Australian, Austr