Treason in the name of journalism

Arnab Goswami, a journalist, is the epitome of the devastation that has befallen the visual media in India over the past decade. Arnab became a ‘celebrity’ not because he made any significant contribution to India’s decades-long history of journalism. He became a role model for the visual media worker by sitting in the fictional position of the omnipotent anchor in the newsroom, shouting, Shouting at dissidents and loudly declaring that he and the politics he represents are right. Those who failed to recognise the great distance between fair journalism and the work he did saw him as the new face of innovative visual media work.

Arnab’s recent appearance in the news has made it even clearer that he is a conspirator in the garb of a journalist. Arnab is not the first person to do the work of a conspirator for personal gain under the guise of journalism. But with a beastly frenzy, his actions, with all the blessings of a government that has dictatorial tendencies to freeze even the country’s constitutional institutions, undermine the very possibilities of independent journalism in the country. That’s why he becomes so dangerous.

As soon as the news broke that Republic TV had cheated to increase the ratings, it became clear that the criminal tendencies behind his authoritarian attitude in the newsrooms would go to extremes. The Supreme Court’s haste to grant him bail in a case registered by the Maharashtra government for inciting suicide proved that his extreme closeness with the central government could influence even the Supreme Court. His recent WhatsApp chats have also confirmed that the media celebrity is a traitor.

Arnab Goswami’s WhatsApp chats with the former head of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) Parthodas Gupta make it clear that he does not hesitate to use even secrets related to national security to bolster his business. Arnab’s refusal to deny the chat and his justification confirm the fact that he wears as a badge of honour even the most stupid of ideas. The fact that the details of the Pulwama attack were leaked to Republic TV earlier sheds light on the extremely dangerous ‘propaganda’ being carried out by him and the central government. He even showed the audacity to mock the opposition’s demand that a joint parliamentary committee investigates the leak of military secrets to Arnab.

Mani Shankar Aiyar was right when he openly said that he was not ready to talk to traitors like Republican TV activists. They are not journalists, but traitors. At the height of their hatred and blasphemy, they are carrying out acts that undermine the country’s security.