India Abroad - May 12, 2017

INDIA ABROAD May 12, 2017 28 INDIA
INDIAABROAD.COM

By Peter Hutchison

— NEW DELHI
ndia’s most brash and con-
troversial TV news anchor
Arnab Goswami, renowned
for his hectoring style, is
about to launch a new
channel and he’s unapolo-
getic about what viewers should
expect.

“I’m patriotic and nationalistic and so will the channel be,” the 43-year-old tells AFP in a mellow tone drastically different from his manner on-screen where he regularly shouts at guests.

Goswami — known simply in India as “Arnab”, such is his celebrity status — will launch “Republic TV” within the next fortnight, six months after quit-ting Times Now where he hosted a nightly news show.

The journalist is adored by
many Indians for his jingoistic,
anti-Pakistan views but is equal-
ly loathed by others, often on
the left, who accuse him of nois-
ily trumpeting a right-wing
agenda.

Commentators also criticize him for promoting a biased approach to covering news, but Goswami is unrepentant, rejecting any notion that journalists’ reporting should be balanced and impartial.

“When a Pakistani terrorist
group kills my soldier, I shall not
try to look at it through this dis-
tilled lens of objec-
tivity and say I must
understand the per-
spective of the mili-
tant terrorist and
call him a militant
or a gunman,” he
says.
“I would say he
was a terrorist and
he has killed my
country’s soldier. If
that violates a few
rules of journalism
then I would like to
violate a few more
rules of journalism. I don’t
believe in this fake objectivity.

I’m an Indian and I will be on the
side of India.”
The Oxford University gradu-
ate started his career at the
Kolkata-based Telegraph in 1994
before joining NDTV. In 2006 he
help set up Times Now where he
anchored “The Newshour”
before leaving in November.

‘Fox News’ of India?

Goswami has built up a team of around 300 full-time journalists and commercial staff in just four months at Republic TV’s shiny new newsroom and studio in central Mumbai.

He has big plans for his new venture. Goswami is confident of defeating what he calls the “Indian media cabal operating out of Delhi” by making Republic TV the most-watched English-language news channel in India. Then he will set his sights on media giants in the West.

“I believe that the hegemony
of the Western media has to
end,” says Goswami, wearing
black-rimmed glasses.
“There has been too much of
a Western dominance over
English news media in the
world. In the course of the next
three or four years I am certain
that I will correct it and I think
the challenge to organizations
like the BBC or CNN can only
come from a multi-cultural,
multi-ethnic, vibrant, growing
democracy like India.”
Goswami criticized Western
media coverage of Donald
Trump, saying it was “almost
embarrassing” to see some
American media outlets “fight a
battle” with the U.S. president.
But he denied claims he wants to
make Republic TV the “Fox
News of India.”
“It’s the losers in the Indian
media market who call us the
‘Fox News’. I’ve never seen Fox
News so I don’t seek any inspira-
tion from it.”
Goswami’s shows are high-
decibel affairs, usually featuring
half a dozen panellists on the
screen, all trying to get a word in
at the same time as the anchor
barks questions.

Catchphrase

“I shout because in India if
you don’t shout you’re not going
to be heard,” he said, describing
more sober news shows as “bor-
ing.”
“I would request all the
Western audiences to loosen up,
roll up their sleeves, have a cup
of coffee and wake up when
they’re doing the news because
some of the news channels
abroad put me to sleep,”
Goswami added.

He insists he will continue to
use the catchphrase “nation
wants to know” despite his pre-
vious employer filing a legal
notice against him trying to stop
him from doing so, claiming it is
their intellectual property.
Detractors say Republic TV
has the backing of investors
sympathetic to the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party but
Goswami insists he has no party
political interest. He supported
the government’s decision to
scrap high-denomination ban-
knotes, its fight for a single
goods and services tax and surgi-
cal strikes on Pakistan but wants
it to be tougher on militants in
Kashmir and Maoist insurgents.
Goswami describes himself as
a “liberal nationalist”, saying he
supports secularism, greater
inclusion, has championed
women and LGBT rights, and
also questioned both Hindu and
Muslim fundamentalism.

“I just do whatever I think comes from the heart. I’m a person who shoots from the hip, I pull no punches, I will do nothing else,” he said.

— AFP

“I believe
that the
hegemony
of the
Western
media has
to end”
Arnab Goes
Rogue

Controversial TV anchor’s
‘nationalistic’ new channel

S u j i t J a i s w a l / A F P / G e t t y I m a g e s

— MUMBAI
n Indian court on May 4
convicted five police
officers and two doctors
of tampering with evidence in
the gang rape of a pregnant
woman and the murder of her
family during one of the worst
incidents of religious unrest
since independence.

Bilkis Bano was gang raped and seven of her relatives were killed during religious riots that broke out in Gujarat in

2002.

At least 2,000 Muslims were hacked, beaten, shot or burnt to death in the violence, which erupted after a group of Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire wrongly blamed on a Muslim mob.

On May 4, a court in
Mumbai overturned an earlier
acquittal of the seven accused
following an appeal by the
Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI). It also upheld the con-
victions of 11 Hindu men con-
victed of rape and murder in
the case.

In a statement to the media, Bano expressed satisfaction that officials who had "embold-ened, encouraged, and protected" her attackers had finally been convicted.

"My rights, as a human being, as a citizen, woman, and mother were violated in the most brutal manner, but I had trust in the democratic institutions of our country," she said.

"Now, my family
and I feel we can
begin to lead our
lives again, free of
fear."
Bano and two of her chil-
dren were the only survivors in
a group of 17 Muslims who
were attacked in 2002. Her
three-year-old daughter was
among the victims.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, who was the state's chief
minister at the time, was
accused of turning a blind eye
to the violence but was cleared
of any wrongdoing in 2012.
The state government has
been accused of dragging its
heels in prosecuting those
accused in the riots.

"As per my knowledge, this is the first time that police officials have been convicted in any case pertaining to the Gujarat riots," special counsel for the CBI Hiten Venegavkar told AFP.