Tanzil Asif

After completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, I began my career in 2016, working for about a year with various media houses in Delhi before returning home to launch Main Media in 2018.

In 2021, I was among six journalists from India selected for YouTube’s Creator Program for Independent Journalists. That same year, my organisation Main Media was chosen for the inaugural Google News Initiative (GNI) Startups Lab India. We were supported by the Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation (IPSMF) from 2022-25. We were also selected for the GNI News Equity Fund in 2022. Our work was later recognized by DataLEADS’ FactShala Innovation Lab in 2023, the GNI Indian Languages Program in 2024, and the EJN Asia-Pacific Media Grants in 2025.

In 2024, I was awarded a fellowship by Earth Journalism Network (EJN) to produce video stories on renewable energy in India. I was invited to the Reporting on the Environment in Asia-Pacific (REAP) Forum in Bali, Indonesia in 2025 and also spoke at the Social Media and Society in India (SMSI) conference at the University of Michigan, USA, in the same year.