TV9 Network hosted the News9 Global Summit UAE on June 19 at Taj Dubai, marking a milestone in India-UAE relations. Held under the theme “Partnership for Prosperity & Progress,” the event brought together leaders from politics, business and culture. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and UAE’s Abdulaziz Al Nuaimi highlighted the strength of bilateral ties, while India’s Ambassador Sunjay Sudhir and BAPS’s Brahmavihari Swami added diplomatic and spiritual perspectives. Star speakers included Suniel Shetty, Ektaa R. Kapoor, and Nargis Fakhri, with panels exploring trade, tech, and OTT trends. Actor Vivek Oberoi delivered a powerful address on purpose-driven leadership. The summit, backed by partners like Buimerc, De Beers, and Khaleej Times, reinforced India’s role as a global thought leader and innovation hub.

CNN-News18’s flagship event, the Town Hall, returns on 28 June 2025 with a special edition titled ‘Borders to Business—The Strength of Bharat’, focusing on India’s defence sector and national security. This edition will feature high-ranking defence personnel, government officials and defence experts discussing themes such as modern warfare, indigenous defence production, and lessons from Operation Sindoor. The event will include sessions with Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, BSF Assistant Commandant Neha Bhandari, Lt Gen Vinod G. Khandare (Retd.), and DRDO’s Dr Sudhir Mishra, among others. “CNN-News18 has been India’s No. 1 English news channel for over three years now,” said Smriti Mehra, CEO - English & Business News, Network18. “The Defence Edition of CNN-News18 Town Hall brings together sharp minds to discuss the strength and resilience of our armed forces and the success of Operation Sindoor.” Managing Editor Zakka Ja

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is in Russia to promote a documentary series based on his book Inglorious Empire. The series is produced by Russia’s state-run TV network RT and will air later this year. Tharoor reportedly landed in St Petersburg on June 21 to attend the Economic Forum and then travelled to Moscow, where he met top Russian leaders, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and also met members of the Indian community. Apart from promoting the series, he discussed topics like terrorism, the Gaza conflict and India-Russia relations.

Radio City stole the show at the inaugural Maharashtra Radio Festival held on World Music Day 2025 at Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium, Mumbai. Organised by the Government of Maharashtra, the event was graced by Padma Vibhushan Asha Bhosale, CM Devendra Fadnavis, and IT Minister Ashish Shelar. Radio City won the “Maharashtra Asha Best Radio Station” award, presented by CM Fadnavis, who also sang “Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar” with Asha Tai, creating a heartfelt moment. RJ Shonali bagged the Best Marathi Radio Presenter award. The festival featured cultural performances, live orchestras, and nostalgic displays of vintage radios. RJs Archana and Janavi Iyer joined panel discussions, while popular voices like Salil, Abhishek, Karan, and Harshit also marked their presence. Radio City CEO Ashit Kukian said the award reflects their deep listener connection and commitment to creative storytelling. National Programming Head Anurita Patel added, “This honour celebrates the emotional bond w

In a world where national headlines chase clicks and news cycles move faster than you can say "breaking," there’s one form of journalism quietly refusing to be swept away by the algorithm: hyperlocal reporting. It doesn’t scream for attention—it earns it. By telling stories that start at the street corner and end at the school gate, hyperlocal journalism remains rooted in community, driven by sincerity, and committed to accuracy over virality. Two publications—Southern Times and Mylapore Times—may be charting very different paths, but they share the same DNA: news that doesn’t just inform but belongs to its readers. Take Southern Times, for instance. With more than 20 years under its belt reporting from Tamil Nadu, the paper decided earlier this year to leap into the Bengaluru market. A bold move, especially at a time when print journalism is struggling to keep its ink from drying up. From rising newsprint costs to shrinking ad revenues, the odds aren’t exactly stacke

Pride shouldn't be a seasonal PR stunt. For queer journalists in India, June may bring rainbow logos and token shout-outs—but the real fight is for something far less decorative: daily dignity, representation, and equal opportunity inside newsrooms.   This Pride Month, Influencing India spoke to a few queer journalists who offered candid insights into what inclusion really looks like behind the headlines.   Ragamalika Karthikeyan, a strategic communications leader and co-founder of InQlusive Newsrooms (with Queer Chennai Chronicles and The News Minute), has trained over 300 journalists across India and produced LGBTQIA+ media sensitivity guides in six languages. For her, visibility has never been the challenge—it’s newsroom structures that remain slow to evolve.   “Just because you have a queer journalist in your organisation doesn't mean you bring them out once a year during Pride Month. They have expertise beyond just queerness. They may know about policy, law, history,

CommunicationsDay founder, Grahame Lynch told Influencing this year’s CommsDay Summit saw its “biggest ever audience”.  “We had around 550 badges on the door. An important breadth of the industry was there, and I say that it's a great opportunity for people to network or meet each other for the first time.” “We achieved that number with audience scale, not so big that it wasn’t personal, and it wasn’t so big that it was alienating, which is often the case with international conferences. We thought we achieved a very happy medium with how it turned out.” The Summit took place on June 17 and 18 at The Fullerton Hotel in Sydney and Lynch said the big topic across the two days was AI.  “AI was examined in terms of how it can be applied to the operations of telcos, which can result in both cost savings and the optimisation of operations and the creation of new applications,” said Lynch. “The second was looking at how AI affects telco … it's generated an in