.jpg?rect=0%2C0%2C1920%2C1080&auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
It would be apt to say that Arnab Goswami has emerged as a unique aspect of Indian journalism.
You can love him or hate him, but you really cannot ignore his “India wants to know” anthem or his sometimes rambunctious, always angry persona. He argues, he opines, he shouts and receives backlash for all of the above.
Which is why when Goswami called up a Karnataka MLA to hound him for abusing a Times Now reporter, we knew he was doing what he does best.
Only this time, maybe we’ll pat him on the shoulder.
It all began when Ashok Kheny, a Karnataka MLA, abused Times Now Mumbai bureau- chief, Megha Prasad.
What followed, can be described in three steps:
- An angry Arnab Goswami
- A call to Kheny on speaker phone
- An angrier demand for public apology
Times Now had previously done a sting involving Kheny that supposedly exposed the ‘sale’ of MLAs ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections. The reporter was at a Mumbai hotel to ask him questions about it, when Kheny accused her of “harassing him”.
Not affected by the accusation, Prasad continued prodding Kheny when he spoke to her in, as Goswami calls it, “disgraceful language.”
Arnab not only confronted Kheny on his use of language with the journalist, he also demanded an apology from him on public television.
This time, Goswami heckling a politician not only delivered the spectacle that is his forte, but it also came as a (pleasant) surprise as he stood up for his colleague.
Goswami also received some (much needed) social media validation for his actions.
Social media was also all praise for Megha Prasad, who held her own despite Kheny.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)