Welcome to Pint of View – Bangalore's first-ever community where classroom-styled lectures meet drinks in pubs and bars.

About the lecture

The question of who pays for journalism is ultimately a question about what kind of journalism we get.

Indian journalism operates under competing pressures. Television news is driven by TRPs and the race for attention. Digital newsrooms contend with clicks and algorithms. Advertising remains a major source of revenue, but can also shape what gets covered.

When revenue follows clicks, journalism competes with everything else that can generate them. Complex stories that take weeks to report rarely perform as well as outrage produced in minutes. This raises a basic question: what does independence mean? Can a newsroom remain independent when its survival depends on advertising or audience numbers?

There is an older model worth revisiting. Indian newspapers and magazines once relied more directly on circulation and subscriptions, with readers as paying customers. During the freedom movement, publications were spaces for public debate. Gandhi and Ambedkar understood journalism as a way to challenge power and give communities a voice.

The paywall is one answer to journalism’s economic problem. Asking readers to pay can give journalists room to pursue expensive reporting. But if good journalism sits behind a subscription, what happens to those who cannot afford it?

This lecture examines the changing economics of Indian media and asks what independent journalism can look like today.

If nobody pays for independent journalism, who eventually does?

About the speaker

In a news landscape crowded with instant reactions and louder voices, Pooja Prasanna’s journalism is driven by a different question: what lies beneath the headline? For more than 17 years, she has reported on politics, governance, elections, social justice and public policy across south India, with a particular interest in how power shapes public life.

Pooja is currently the Editorial Head for Reporting at The News Minute, where she leads political coverage, ground reporting, investigations and public-interest journalism. She anchors

Let Me Explain, a weekly explainer series that makes complex political, legal and policy questions accessible, and co-hosts South Central, TNM’s flagship podcast on politics and public affairs.

Her reporting focuses on the institutions and systems that shape democracy in practice. She has covered elections, electoral rolls, political financing, communal mobilisation and changing political landscapes, often examining their consequences beyond the immediate news cycle.

Before joining The News Minute, Pooja was a Principal Correspondent at Times Now and later South India Bureau Chief at Republic TV, reporting on politics and breaking news across the region. Her television experience strengthened her ground-up, fact-based approach to reporting in fast-moving and highly charged environments.

In February 2025, she delivered a TEDx talk in Bengaluru, Claiming the Narrative: Truth, Power, and the Fight for Autonomy, exploring storytelling, identity, power and resilience in an era of contested truths.

Event Details

• The Humming Tree, Indiranagar
• Tuesday, 25 August | 7 PM to 9 PM [Gates open at 6 pm, please try to arrive early, so we complete your check-in in time]

Note: There’s a mandatory cover charge of ₹500 to be paid at the venue upon arriving, redeemable against any F&B.

Seating will be on first-come, first-served basis.

What to Expect:

• A 60-minute lecture
• 30–45 minutes of interactive Q&A
• Social mixer and personal Q&As with the lecturer

About Pint of View

Inspired by the successful Lectures on Tap community in the U.S., Pint of View brings this format to India for the first time. It’s where big ideas meet bar tables, and where you enjoy a drink in hand, walking out with a new way of seeing the world.

Book now & develop your own pint of view! 🍻