Anti-corruption watchdog boss resigns amid conflict scrutiny National Anti-Corruption Commission founding commissioner Paul Brereton will step down after sustained questions about conflicts of interest and the agency’s early handling of major referrals. The resignation sharpens pressure on the government to run a transparent appointment process and restore confidence in a watchdog designed to lift integrity standards across federal politics. Covered by: Sydney Morning Herald, The Age. Bondi attack: hotline tip-offs and security checks under the microscope Multiple papers report classified files showing the Bondi attacker was flagged via National Security Hotline tip-offs years earlier, raising questions about how warnings were assessed and acted on. The AFR adds that the event’s security was set locally without a counter-terrorism assessment despite warnings—widening the focus from intelligence failures to event security settings and accountability. Covered by: Daily Telegraph

Multiple FIRs filed against senior journalist and political analyst K. Nageshwar over his remarks on an alleged Pawan Kalyan–Amit Shah conversation have reignited concerns about the shrinking space for political commentary in India’s television media. Nageshwar’s comments, made during a political discussion show and attributed to “highly placed sources,” were strongly denied by the Jana Sena Party, which demanded their withdrawal. The issue escalated into police complaints and criminal cases across Andhra Pradesh. Nageshwar later withdrew his remarks unconditionally, admitting the information may not have been sufficiently verified. The controversy has raised larger questions about the role of source‑based reporting, political analysis, and interpretation of power equations in television journalism. Critics argue that the use of criminal charges against journalists for commentary risks creating a chilling effect on analysts and news platforms. While

The Telangana High Court has raised strong concerns over delays in renewing journalists’ accreditation cards, underscoring that the matter affects the entire media fraternity. Accreditation, the court noted, is essential for access to government offices, official events, and smooth reporting. Despite earlier assurances, delays have persisted, prompting the bench to remind authorities of their responsibility. The state informed the court that validity would now be extended until June 16, 2026. Directing officials to complete the process without further delay, the HC stressed that administrative lapses impacting journalists cannot be taken lightly.   

The Karnataka government is working to strengthen welfare measures for journalists, including easing norms for free bus passes for rural reporters and introducing health schemes for media persons, Chief Minister’s Media Advisor K.V. Prabhakar announced. Speaking at a media interaction organised by the Karnataka Working Journalists’ Association (KUWJ), Prabhakar said two strict conditions for bus passes would be relaxed, with an order expected within a week. More than 6,000 journalists are likely to benefit. He added that discussions are underway on health schemes and revision of government advertisement rates for newspapers. Prabhakar noted that the state’s ad policy was designed to support local and small publications, addressing concerns of discrimination in ad allocation. Describing his role as a “bed of thorns”, Prabhakar said the position comes with daily challenges but affirmed his commitment. KUWJ President Shivanand Tagadoor praised him for acting as an effective

Image source: Bahrisons Booksellers, Instagram Rajasthan has been misread for too long. Two journalists spent 15 years correcting that. Tabeenah Anjum and Deep Mukherjee's new book documents a state whose political depth rarely enters national discourse and explains why that erasure matters. When journalists Tabeenah Anjum and Deep Mukherjee began searching for a comprehensive political account of Rajasthan in English, they couldn't find one. That absence, they say, became the reason they wrote Dynasties to Democracy: Politics, Caste and Power Struggles in Rajasthan, a book born not from an academic brief but from fifteen years of notebooks, field reporting and stories that never made it past word limits. In conversation with Influencing, the co-authors spoke about what it took to document a state that most national conversations have consistently undersold. The challenge of writing the book, Anjum and Mukherjee say, wasn't a lack of material, it was the risk of flat

  Monday, 25 May 2026 #1  ·  Times City  ·  Investigative House Help Drugs Woman, Son To Steal Gold Jewellery — No Police Verification By Times News Service   ·   The Times of India  ·  Page 3 A domestic worker in Delhi allegedly drugged a woman and her son in order to steal gold jewellery from their home, with police finding no prior verification of the employee had been conducted. The report details a sequence of events reconstructed from police and victim accounts, highlighting systemic failures in domestic worker screening. The story raises broader questions about the absence of mandatory police verification for household staff. Beyond the crime narrative, the story effectively uses the incident as a lens to examine the systemic gap in domestic worker verification norms, lending it investigative value that goes beyond a routine crime report. #2  ·  Page One Plus  ·&n

Regional broadcaster WIN confirmed on Friday that it would kill the 10 broadcast to audiences in Mount Gambier and Riverland in South Australia, and the Griffith region in New South Wales. According to reporting from Sam Buckingham-Jones in the Australian Financial Review, WIN chief executive has confirmed those three channels would be turned off when WIN's contract with Ten expires on June 30. WIN already turned off Ten in Mildura and next at risk is large areas of regional Western Australian and Darwin. “WIN has long signalled that we will not continue with unprofitable aspects of our business and the Ten signals in South Australia and Griffith fall into that category,” Lancaster was quoted as saying. In a statement to the ABC earlier in the week, WIN said it had notified the Communications Minister and Department of Communications about its decision. The ABC story quoted Network 10 as saying the situation was out "outside of its control".. "We kn