Will This Driveling Nonsense Ever Stop? The Nation No Longer Wants To Know.
Arnab Goswami has long since abandoned journalism and taken up the performing arts. But here are 7 instances from his news debates in 2020 when he abandoned even the pretense of journalism.
Once upon a time journalist Arnab Goswami is a man who symbolizes the steady deterioration of electronic media in India. He is the Indian equivalent of Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, except that Goswami is even worse. That a great number of Indians rely on his Republic TV prime time show “The Debate With Arnab Goswami” for their daily dose of nightly entertainment illustrates just how seductive a genre drama is.
And how hard it is to resist watching the dramatis personae bicker and battle, be it on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, inside the kitchen, or during a political debate. So, what are we trying to get at? Well, we all know Mr. Goswami has long since abandoned journalism and taken up the performing arts, so let’s not beat about the bush.
Here’s exposing Arnab Goswami: 7 instances from his news debates in 2020 when he abandoned even the pretense of journalism:
1. When He Attempted To Deflect Attention From The JNU Attack
On 7 January 2020, Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone visited Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to express solidarity with the students. Just two days before, a masked mob had rampaged through the campus, thrashing students and teachers in an attack that has since become memorable for its sheer audaciousness.
Instead of expressing outrage over the incident, Mr. moderator model-for-haters and his chosen panel only raved and ranted about Deepika Padukone, the “#BollywoodPseudos”, and “anti-national” JNU students, a large number of whom had incidentally been at the forefront of protests against the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act). Not a syllable of sympathy was uttered for the injured students.
Watch: Arnab Goswami on the JNU Attacks
2. When He Hosted A “Debate” That Shamed TV Journalism
Goswami hosted a debate on Republic Bharat — Republic Network’s Hindi news channel — on 28 May 2020 about Indian security forces having reportedly averted a Pulwama-like bomb attack in Kashmir. Present on the panel were Maninderjeet Singh Bitta from India and Engineer Iftikhar Chaudhry from Pakistan who appallingly engaged in a virtual mock war using toy missiles and spears!
While the two were worse than drunken brawlers at shady street corners, the only thing rivalling their vulgar slanging match was Arnab Goswami’s own distasteful threats and remarks about Pakistanis eating Tidi (locust) biryani and qorma.
Hate-filled hogwash, all of it.
3. When He Accidentally Exposed Himself Instead Of The Western Media
Though Arnab Goswami had yelled for weeks unleashing venom against anti-CAA protesters — particularly the women demonstrators of Shaheen Bagh — it evidently wasn’t enough. Even as the smoke was yet to clear off the communal conflagration that consumed parts of north-east Delhi, Goswami, on 27 February 2020, conducted a debate accusing the western media of distorting facts and leading a disinformation campaign against India. While there was no criticism of right-wing rabble-rousers from the ruling party or mention of the tragic loss of lives and property, the “journalist” launched into a bizarre rant, excoriating Bernie Sanders (whom he called an “ignoramus”), Al Jazeera (which he called “insufferably hypocritical”), and Washington Post (which he described as a “rag”) among others.
Watch: Arnab Goswami’s Grand Expose of the Western Media
4. When He Heaped Insults On A Sitting Chief Minister
For Goswami, the business of maligning the Uddhav Thackeray government was left unfinished ever since the fictitious allegations levelled in the wake of the Palghar lynching incident had fallen flat. But the Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR) death case gave him the perfect excuse, allowing him to conduct endless “debates” about the complicity of a depraved Bollywood and connected political establishment (read: Maharashtra Govt.) in SSR’s death.
In early September, two Republic TV staff were arrested for reportedly trespassing on Uddhav Thackeray’s farmhouse. In response, Goswami delivered a threat-laden, insult-ridden tirade against the Chief Minister on Republic Bharat.
This was so low, it wasn’t just unbecoming of a journalist, but of any civil human being.
Watch: Arnab Goswami’s Tirade Against Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray
5. When He Rushed To The Rescue Of A Kindred Soul
Goswami’s ongoing diatribe against the “Bollywood mafia” and Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government took a new turn when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on 8 September 2020 demolished portions of Kangana Ranaut’s office, citing illegal construction. Provocateur in chief and aspiring foot soldier of Hindutva in Bollywood, Kangana Ranaut had earlier launched a rabid attack on the Mumbai Police and ruling party.
Waxing eloquent about Ranaut, Goswami absurdly remarked that the Khan triumvirate and Naseeruddin Shah were now silent because they envied her for she had a brighter future than them. Pertinently, a lot of noise was made about the misogynistic treatment meted out to Ranaut, even as Goswami perversely denigrated another woman — Sonia Gandhi — calling her Sonia Maino, presumably to rub in her foreign origin.
Watch: Arnab Goswami After The Kangana Ranaut – BMC Fiasco
6. When He Ran A Government Ad In The Name Of “Debate”
On 9 April 2020, in the early stages of a nation-wide lockdown, flatterer-in-chief conducted a “debate” that was at best a government advertisement, and at worst an exercise in sycophancy. Hailing PM Narendra Modi’s efforts in making India a global leader in the fight against COVID-19, Goswami highlighted how the Presidents of US, Brazil, and Sri Lanka were thanking India for supplying them with Hydroxychloroquine and machines to combat coronavirus in their countries. Note: the trickster didn’t mention that India lifted its export ban on the drug after Trump called Modi, threatening “retaliation” if stocks were not released.
Watch: Arnab Goswami As PM Modi’s Flatterer-in-Chief
Meanwhile, by this time, thousands of desperate, out of work migrant workers had begun swarming highways and bus terminals in the hope of reaching their native villages. But to Goswami, we had dealt with the crisis “beautifully”.
A classic example of propaganda masquerading as news.
7. When He Became Police, Judge, Jury and Executioner
If Miss Padukone’s JNU visit prompted Goswami’s first anti-Bollywood rant of the year, SSR’s death led him to declare full-fledged war on the film industry. Beginning with the witch-hunt of Rhea Chakraborty, the toxic vitriol he unleashed on the subject went on for weeks on end. It wasn’t enough that Goswami — on the basis of pure speculation and his channel’s “investigation” — hosted blustering debates in which he and his hateful panelists called SSR’s death a murder, held Rhea Chakraborty culpable, and described those supporting her as the pro-drug mafia lobby. For him, this sub-judice matter became a weapon with which he relentlessly inflicted blows on the Mumbai Police, a quasi-imaginary drug mafia-patronizing Bollywood, and an allegedly complicit Maharashtra Government.
Watch: Arnab Goswami Twists The Narrative Of The SSR Suicide Case
Indeed, Republic T.V.’s “reportage” and string of debates on SSR’s death made Indian television journalism look worse than at any other time in its history.
“Journalist” Arnab Goswami — A Minion in the Media
The elaborate buffoonery on display every night could be amusing, except that it is disturbing to see how much power a minion in the media is allowed to wield.
Arnab Goswami’s “journalism”, bray and bark-based, unapologetically bellicose, and sans even a kernel of objectivity, may have redefined electronic media in India, but it is the sort of redefinition we were far better without. As for the “journalist” himself, he puts forward his sophistry laced with contempt and half-truths with such conviction and force, you’re almost inclined to believe him. This contrived sincerity is the cardinal trait of a successful con artist. That he has put a clever spin on the TRP controversy and FIRs against Republic TV to present them as vile attempts to suppress his channel’s honest journalism speaks of his nonpareil mastery in conning.
