The Pushpak Express, a train connecting Lucknow and Mumbai, witnessed a horrific tragedy on January 22, 2025, near Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district. Panic struck when a false fire alarm triggered chaos aboard the train. Gripped by fear, passengers pulled the emergency chain, halting the train on a bridge. In the ensuing frenzy, many leapt from the train to escape what they believed was an imminent fire. Hot off the Press As reported by Times of India’s Santosh Sonawane and Manthan K Mehta, 12 passengers lost their lives when they landed on the opposite track and were struck by an oncoming train. Survivors recounted that those who jumped on the same side as the stationary train escaped unscathed. The Hindu’s Snehal Mutha, Purnima Sah and Abhinay Deshpande noted the harrowing eyewitness accounts: “Only about 40 passengers from three coaches near the engine disembarked. It’s terrifying to think what could have happened if more passengers had done the same,” said a survivo

  ABC chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor has announced his decision to leave the organisation after overseeing a period of transformation and growth within the ABC’s content teams, a media release from the organisation confirmed.  Appointed as the inaugural chief content officer in March 2023, Chris led the newly formed Content division, which merged the ABC’s former Entertainment & Specialist and Regional & Local divisions. Under Chris’ leadership, ABC achieved significant milestones, including becoming the number one ranked TV broadcaster in 2023–24 with a reach of 6.6 million people, or 36.4 per cent of the five-city metro population. He also spearheaded successful programs like The Assembly, The Family Next Door, and Bluey’s Big Play, among others. Additionally, ABC iview saw over 20 per cent growth in weekly users and secured the top spot as the leading BVOD service with a 34 per cent share of on-demand minutes. ABC Radio also reached 4.77 million p

  Nine has made significant cuts to its news department affecting both the Darwin and Gold Coast newsrooms, Mediaweek reported. The Darwin newsroom will bear the brunt with the 6 pm bulletin being axed and only a reporter and camera operator remaining to cover local stories. Territorians will now receive the Queensland news bulletin nightly. On the Gold Coast, the nightly news will be presented by a single newsreader with Eva Milic and Paul Taylor alternating shifts. These changes come after Amanda Laing was appointed managing director of the revamped streaming and broadcast division which brought together Stan, 9Now, Broadcast Television, and Radio, leading to several redundancies.

The Sydney Morning Herald is opening a new bureau in Parramatta set to launch in March, according to The Sydney Morning Herald editor Bevan Shields. This expansion reflects the newspaper’s strategic focus on deepening its connection with the rapidly evolving western suburbs, a key area for future growth in both population and influence. The new bureau is part of a broader investment strategy to drive the newspaper’s subscriber growth by providing high-quality, localised reporting. Shields, in his LinkedIn post, noted that the move aligns with the publication’s goal of better serving the western suburbs' diverse communities and ensuring their voices are heard in the broader Sydney media landscape. "Our success comes from exceptional local coverage and this expansion lets us double down on that formula," said Shields. "Sydney readers want quality, localised reporting, and we’re here to deliver." The Parramatta bureau will be led by associate editor Kathryn Wicks, with a mix

Influencing understands that CRN Australia will revert to being published by The Channel Company, with current publisher Nextmedia expected to re-brand its IT channel publishing business. The Channel Company, which owns the CRN parent brand, posted a job advertisement last week for a new editor for CRN Australia.  The description read that the editor would "be responsible for creating and leading editorial content in ANZ and growing the brand over time. This will involve producing a wide range of content, including news, interviews, and in-depth analyses.”  The Channel Company, which bought CRN from United Business Media in 2013, was acquired by private equity firm EagleTree Capital in 2021. Since then, it has embarked on a number of acquisitions, including buying Incisive Media, which published CRN under license in the UK. In October last year, it also launched CRN Asia. "The launch of CRN Asia extends the leading-edge news, trusted analysis, and in-demand events of CRN to a

Radio City’s AI RJ Sia, India’s first artificial intelligence-powered radio jockey, recently shared the spotlight with RJ Nidhi in a playful Instagram video where tech met style.  Nidhi sought Sia’s advice on an outfit for a Coldplay concert and the AI RJ delivered a trendy suggestion that left her thrilled. Sia also impressed Nidhi’s Tamil-speaking audience by effortlessly switching languages, showcasing its versatility and linguistic adaptability. RJ Sia, introduced by Radio City in 2023, hosts 'Say Na SIA', a non-fiction show that airs on Sundays from 7 to 8 PM. The show offers a mix of fashion, entertainment, trends and a relaxed vibe, catering to audiences in Hindi-speaking markets. Described on Radio City's website as “intelligent and committed to knowledge,” Sia embodies the future of AI in entertainment, seamlessly blending technology and creativity to engage listeners. Following the viral moment online, RJ Nidhi told Influencing India, “Sia is not availabl

US President Donald Trump continues to hog the media limelight in India and abroad with his flurry of executive orders. The one that has rattled the Indian diaspora and their families back home is the order seeking to revoke birthright citizenship by which children born in the US to non-citizen parents get automatic citizenship. The order, titled ‘Protecting the meaning and value of American citizenship’, flies in the face of the guarantee, rooted in common law and enshrined in the Constitution for more than 150 years, that anyone born in the United States is automatically an American citizen. Hot off the Press In his order, Trump said he would interpret the 14th Amendment differently than had been done in the past, arguing that it “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.” Federal agencies have been directed not to issue citizenship documents to such children, starting in 30 days, reported Lubna Kably for Th