Bastion bolsters experiential offering with senior appointment

Telum Media and Truescope have entered a strategic partnership that brings together Telum Media’s curated journalist and media relations platform with Truescope’s fully integrated AI-first media intelligence service.

The partnership will surface Truescope media intelligence inside the Telum Media platform, so communications teams can see which journalists are covering their issues and pitch them without leaving the workflow. 

Between them, the two companies now cover the five parts of media intelligence. Truescope brings media monitoring, social listening and media analysis. Telum Media brings the media database and distribution. For communications teams, that means one connected workflow, from finding the right journalist to measuring what the coverage achieved.

The partnership will initially focus on Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, with additional markets to follow.

For Telum Media, the partnership reflects a sharp surge in journalists demanding greater relevance in the outreach they receive from PRs, and follows its recent launch of Distribution tools within the platform.

“The ‘spray and pray’ approach to sending media releases should be consigned to the past – that’s what thousands of journalists have been telling us through our Journalist Interest Surveys,” said Telum Media Executive Chairman, Michael Webster.

“The focus is on precision-led targeting and more relevant outreach, and this partnership with Truescope will help communications teams identify and select relevant media based on demonstrated coverage and current editorial interests."

“Having this integrated into the Telum Media platform means teams can research, plan, personalise and pitch without switching between disconnected systems.”

For Truescope, the partnership follows its entry into the Australian market on 1 October 2026, and conversations with more than 30 communications, PR and public affairs leaders across Australian government, corporate and agency teams about what they need from a media intelligence service. Truescope monitors broadcast, print, digital and social media, and runs Truescope AI as part of the service: Truescope Assistant, which answers questions about what happened in the coverage, and Truescope Analyst, which explains what it means, with citations on every output.

Truescope CEO, John Croll, said the integration puts coverage data and journalist data in the same place. Truescope and Telum Media solve complementary parts of the PR workflow, and clients increasingly want monitoring and journalist intelligence to work together without compromising quality.

“PR and Comms teams want the best monitoring and the best journalist data. Until now that has meant two systems and a lot of copying between them.”

“With this partnership, a comms manager can access specialist capabilities, data quality, and innovation of both Truescope and Telum Media. They can see who is covering their issue, understand how that coverage is moving, and pitch the right journalist without leaving the workflow. That is time back, and a better hit rate”, John said.

Find out more about the Telum Media - Truescope partnership.

Philippa Perry has been welcomed at BHP Perth as Manager of the WA Communications team, supporting the company’s iron ore business. She was previously at IMDEX for two years as Head of Communications and Sustainability. Prior to this, Philippa worked as Head of Media and Issues at Telstra, External Relations Director at Lion and spokesperson at nbn Australia.

Debra Wong has started a new role as Manager, Marketing & Communications at BDO Malaysia.

In the role, she is responsible for editorial review, executive content and media pitching.

Prior to this, Debra served as Senior Copywriter, APAC & South Asia at AICPA & CIMA, where she oversaw content strategy and brand governance across 18 markets.