Ever since Arnab Goswami left TimesNow, the nation has wanted to know about his future plans. The answer came when Goswami announced the name of his new media venture – Republic. And while we are not sure if we need to adjust the volumes of our TV sets again, Goswami revealed the idea behind the venture while talking at the Under 25 Summit in Bengaluru.
Talking to an enthusiastic audience at the summit, Arnab said, “In this country, if you don’t scream and yell, then nobody gives a damn.”
“Will you back Republic when we run behind politicians to ensure that accountability is back in your hands, will you back me? Will you back Republic when we fight for merit on your behalf? Will you back Republic when a big corporate media house activates its dirty tricks department to go after young independent journalists who want nothing but their independence and their right to an independent job, will you stand by me then?”
The anchor of TimesNow’s popular show, Newshour, has been the recipient of massive criticism for his theatrical antics, and the high-volume, polarising content on the show. According to Goswami, Republic will be nothing like the conventional and mainstream media that the country has right now. He also hit out at the “high priests of Indian journalism” who have lent their hands to the ‘Lutyenisation’ of Indian media.
“For 10 years, in Lutyens’ Delhi, I have seen the decay and near demise of this beautiful profession of journalism that has been compromised beyond belief,” he reportedly told the crowd, according to Your Story.
“You and me, together, will save Indian journalism from the influence of Lutyens’ Delhi. Take journalism outside Delhi. Take it to Pune, to Guwahati, to Bengaluru, to Mumbai but the national capital. They are so compromised, so co-opted that they have no right to represent the people,” Your Story quoted him as saying.
Goswami, clearly in a mood to be candid about his ideolgy, also said:
“People have asked me: What is the ingredient of your journalism? For me, it is not rocket science. It is a list of dos and don’ts. It is about right and wrong. It is not a narration of facts. People ask me why don’t you depend on facts? I tell them that if I depend on facts I would not be a journalist. I would be Wikipedia.”
Though Republic hasn’t officially announced the details of the platform, the journalist had previously mentioned that he wished to enter the digital cosmos. Its Twitter account asked people to follow them on social media “until we hit your screens.”
He also termed his new venture a ‘movement’, rather than a simple news channel. This, according to him, is also the right time for an independent media.
It was amply clear that Goswami was hitting the raw nerve of the audience when he raised the Bengaluru molestation incident. It was also clear what his target audience for the channel will be – digital-savvy millenials.
“I am seething. I am restless. I have not missed being on air as much as I missed during these past few days,” he said while referring to the Bengaluru incident. “I have been feeling, at the bottom of my heart and at the pit of my stomach, an irresistible fury when I think of the comments made by the minister. I want to know where is the media of the country? What do they find interesting? People ask me why are you launching Republic? That is why,” Your Story quoted him as saying.
Source: Your Story
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