The boundary between journalism and public relations is increasingly porous, with more journalists moving from bylines to boardrooms, trading the newsroom for communication strategy. With their editorial instincts, deadline discipline and audience acumen, these former reporters are bringing a journalist’s sharpness to the PR world. Influencing India spoke to a few professionals who have made this transition, unpacking what changes, what remains and what’s often misunderstood. Rozelle Laha, who reported for Careers360, BW BusinessWorld, Fortune India, Mint and The Ken, is now a strategic communications advisor. “Right after demonetisation and GST, the newsroom felt different. Roles were cut. Budgets froze. I didn’t want to wait for the next layoff wave to hit. PR was a natural transition. Similar skills, different playbook,” she said. The biggest shift? “Not seeing your byline every morning. In journalism, your work is public. In PR, wins happen behind the scenes. It�

Ending a 16-year wait, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was brought back to India from the United States on Thursday,  to be prosecuted for one of the deadliest terror strike in India that killed 166 people and injured 238 others. Hot Off the Press Investigators will now question Rana in their attempt to zero in on his conspiracy with terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI), the role of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani army, and other conspirators behind the deadly strike that shook Mumbai and changed how India fought terror, wrote Neeraj Chauhan for Hindustan Times. He will be only the second person to stand trial in India for the deadly 2008 attacks, and the first time that Indian investigators have in custody a mastermind of the strikes that exposed the country’s under-preparedness, triggered the complete overhaul of the security and intelligence apparatus, and led to the creation o

        The ABC’s network of Pacific-based correspondents, known as the Pacific Local Journalism Network (PLJN), continues to expand as it celebrates its second-year anniversary. The network, funded through the Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy, consists of seven in-country journalists across the region and is driving enhanced ABC newsgathering capabilities and reporting in the Pacific and reinforcing the ABC’s leading position in the region as a trusted voice of independent news.  The team, which consists of Lice Movono (Fiji), Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong (Solomon Islands), Marian Kupu (Tonga), Belinda Kora (Papua New Guinea) Adel Fruean (Samoa) Vonia Vieira (Timor-Leste) and Lillyrose WelWel (Vanuatu), recently visited ABC’s Ultimo and Southbank offices, and met with the Managing Director and a range of ABC International and NEWS teams.  They co-hosted ABC Australia’s The Pacific and ABC Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat, both recorded in Melbourne, and made an app

This year, at the Samsung Australian IT Journalism Awards, Communications Day Founder Grahame Lynch was awarded the highly esteemed Pioneer of IT Journalism Award for his contributions to the IT and telco journalism.  Lynch’s career has seen him cover telco news for over three decades through his CommunicationsDay newsletter, which celebrated its 30th birthday last year.  Lynch has also had a well-travelled career, having worked in China and the US covering telco news through the dot.com crash and the rise of 3G.  Whilst “incredibly flattered” to have received the award, Lynch said his, “best is hopefully still ahead of me”. “I do not really see it as an award for me but more for the team behind CommsDay over thirty years, not just the journalists but also the admin people behind the scenes who keep the business running,” he said. Reflecting back on his career, Lynch said, “I have always been quite competitive in that I like a scoop, or at the very least,

For their investigative reporting surrounding the Richard White and WiseTech saga, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald won the Lizzy for Best News Coverage at the 23rd Annual Samsung Australian IT Journalism Awards.  It was a joint Nine Entertainment effort, with the Australian Financial Review’s Max Mason and Tess Bennett reporting, as well as The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Kate McClymont, Nick McKenzie and Anne Hyland.  The investigation by the three mastheads revealed that in the first winning submission, written by McClymont, McKenzie and Mason titled, “The LinkedIn Lecher’: Billionaire’s controversial approaches, board concerns revealed” that a former partner of WiseTech Founder Richard White had levied serious claims of inappropriate behaviour against him.  It also revealed WiseTech Global’s Board were holding an emergency meeting to reexamine claims of inappropriate behaviour. That move by the Board happened because of questions raised by the investiga