Arnab: To be heard, you need to shout
I HAVE CHOSEN TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY, CONTROVERSIAL TV NEWS ANCHOR SAYS
I have chosen to do things differently, TV news anchor tells Gulf News in an interview |
Arnab Goswami needs no introduction. The controversial Indian TV anchor has earned a reputation for his rants, lectures and shouting on prime time television — his screen presence evokes contempt and awe from the audience, depending on their ideological leanings.
He was in Dubai on Sunday to attend the Republic Gulf Business Leader Awards. In his first interview in front of a camera, Goswami spoke exclusively to Gulf News about his controversial approach to journalism, his disdainful attacks on Left liberals, his bias towards the BJP, Rahul Gandhi and much more. Goswami, who is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Republic TV, says he wants to expand his channel and is planning “customised content” for the UAE market.
The interview at his hotel room was held in the presence of a tall bodyguard hired by his team. In sharp contrast to his aggressive studio performance, Goswami answered all questions calmly, and did not shout at all.
Following are the excerpts:
Who are you: a journalist, judge, jury or executioner or all rolled into one?
I represent a new kind of journalism coming to India, and whenever there’s a new form of journalism that comes, there’s always going to be a clash between the way things were, and the way things are. The only problem is, for some people who don’t like my form of journalism — largely among my peers — they still belong to the old form of journalism; they don’t want to see that change.
But you would still call it journalism?
The kind of journalism that we’ve done has broken all kinds of stories that matter in India over the last 10 years. So if you take those stories out of the Indian social fabric, there would be no big or exclusive stories. So what is it, if not journalism? In fact, I think what others do is not journalism.
You have a clear bias towards the Bharatiya Janata Party?
I feel that is an unverified complaint. In fact, we’re the most robust in our criticism of the BJP on issues, where it needs to be criticised. Recently, during the Unnao and Kathua rape cases we tore the ruling dispensations in both the states apart. I have broken the only big story after this government was elected, which was Lalit Gate in 2015, and consistently we’ve been front-footing all stories, which require accountability. But you know what I can’t do is that I can’t do reverse-engineering. I don’t do journalism when I say, ‘oh, I’ve got to be anti-BJP: Now let me do some reverse-engineering and find 10 stories that fit that pattern’. Similarly, I don’t look at stories where ‘oh, I’ve got to be anti-Congress, or anti-Mahagathbandhan, or third-front, so let me do my journalism that way’.
You spin issues, pre-judge stories, there’s a team working for you, they come up with hashtags to pre-judge stories, build a narrative and then Arnab Goswami takes over at 9pm? Correct.
So the charge is you spin issues, you build a narrative that supports the BJP…
Oh, I stick my neck out… there are only two things: There is right and wrong, and between that right and wrong we’ve got to decide. Now, I stick my neck out on issues on the basis of facts, research, opinion, or sometimes – I must be honest – just gut instinct. So when I feel something is wrong, I stick out my neck and say it’s wrong. What I’m not doing over the last 10 years, is that I’m not doing fence-sitting, unlike all the other people who sit on the fence and say, ‘that’s neutrality’ – that’s complete rubbish.
‘Tukray, tukray gang’. This is the phrase you’ve coined to club all the left-liberals, including students who have left leanings. Why do you use this phrase?
I feel that the term ‘left-liberal’ is oxymoronic, because if you’re a leftist, you can’t be a liberal. And if you’re a liberal, you can’t be a leftist. Who defines what is liberal? Now, let me come to the issue of ‘tukray, tukray gang’. It’s a damn catchy phrase and I know that. And I think it’s very apt in our society because when I see some current issues, it almost appears to me like members of four categories work together: there is a set of politicians, then there are actors, then there are lawyers, and then there is media. Either they have extra sensory perception, or they work together. And so we must, therefore, look at the way they respond to issues. In the case of Rohith Vermula – and we’ve all seen what unrest in university campuses is like – the first category of people, who politicians use when they want to create civic strife, are students.
We’ve also seen what happened at JNU, we’ve seen the attempt what happened at AMU.
What I’ve simply done is that I’ve said this: You’re not a lawyer, you’re a member of a gang. You’re not an activist, you’re a member of a gang. You’re not a journalist, you’re a member of a gang, because you’ve disrespected your profession in order to suit the narrative of some political master because it cannot be accidental.
A section of Indian media is now called ‘Lapdog media’ and people say media houses, including your own channel, behave like the government’s propaganda machinery.
That’s the perception of people and they are free to have it. We are the number one channel in the country watched by a large number of people every night. They judge us, not some people within the profession who may be unhappy at what we do. I am not here to satisfy my peers…
So, people who love your channel are the same set of people who love Modi?
We are not drawing Venn diagrams here. How does it matter? I just want people to watch me, I have no demography in my mind, I feel that the journalism we do is pure. How does it matter which political leader we like or don’t like. If we were to start doing journalism like that then what would be the difference between me and other members of the Lutyens media.
How is your journalism better than others?
This is the first TV interview I am doing by the way. I wasn’t prepared for it (laughs). I am not saying that we are different, what I am saying is that we do represent a philosophical and metaphorical shift in the Indian media away from Delhi. I think there is a world in India of 1.3 billion people that goes beyond Delhi. My reference to Lutyens Delhi is not with disrespect, it’s a statement of fact. They all speak for each other, they say the same things, they meet the same people, they interview the same…
Isn’t this the same kind of language we have heard from Modi — ‘there is this Lutyens’ gang which is working against me, I am an outsider’?
I am telling you what I say… our company’s name is Outlier Media. So I like outliers who do things differently. I have chosen to do things differently…
Do you like Narendra Modi? I don’t like any politician, in case you are trying to ask me a leading question. I am not going to give you a headline. I have no view of individuals I report on and that is a badge of honour.
You love to attack Rahul Gandhi, he is your favourite punching bag. Your attacks leave an impression that you and the BJP have this common goal of a ‘CongressMukt Bharat’ (Congressfree India).
When I interviewed Rahul Gandhi in 2014, you must remember that I was only responsible for my questions, I cannot be held responsible for his answers. As far as punching bag is concerned, I feel that I was very soft in that interview.
Today, the English speaking middle class is receptive towards right-wing ideology and tolerant towards the fringe elements. You have nicely packaged the rightwing ideology.
That is a factually inaccurate question. Go and do the research… who went after the Sri Ram Sena when they attacked a bunch of young boys and girls who had gone to a pub in Mangalore? This Sri Ram Sena, which is actually what you would call a right-wing organisation, though, I think, they should be called an extremist organisation. This particular group had all the charges against it cancelled by a political party you call liberal — the Congress party.
This particular group, whose founder and president is now under the radar in the context of Gauri Lankesh killing, was campaigning against the BJP and effectively therefore for the Congress in Karnataka elections. So, who built that narrative, who fought the right wing forces? Therefore, I do not think we are building any narrative.
Why does Arnab Goswami shout so much on TV and do you shout at home also?
The reason we shout is that… to be heard sometimes you need to shout. To carry your voice with conviction you need to raise the volume.