New Delhi: A war broke out between Indian TV news channels Thursday afternoon, after Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh announced that his department was probing allegations of “fixing” television viewership ratings against Republic TV and two other channels .
Soon, NDTV 24×7, Times Now, India Today, CNN News18 and ABP News went hammer and tongs after Republic TV, its Hindi sister channel Republic Bharat, and Arnab Goswami, the group’s chairman, editor-in-chief and majority shareholder.
Goswami also responded in kind, calling out “the 2-3 channels that are instigating this” and saying “people are watching you, beware of their judgment”.
“And for any of those channels who are getting cheap thrills today, I am going to carry out a criminal defamation against those channels who are participating in the lie,” he added.
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Battle of the channels on and off screen
India Today’s News Director Rahul Kanwal said the viewership data that indicated Republic TV and Republic Bharat as the leading news channels in English and Hindi respectively “did not make any sense”. India Today TV also ran the hashtag #RepublicCheatsBharat and headlines such as ‘Republic rigged ratings’ and ‘Cash for News TRP scandal’.
Its Hindi sister channel Aaj Tak also said, “Republic ki chori pakdi gayi” (Republic got caught stealing).
This no-holds-barred battle over television rating points (TRPs) is, however, not entirely new.
Amid coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput case and the alleged gang-rape and murder of a 20-year old Dalit woman in Hathras, India Today and Republic TV, in particular, have been at each others’ throats. The “naming and shaming”, as India Today’s Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai called it, had gone public Monday when he slammed Republic TV for its coverage of the Rajput case.
Sardesai said, “(Goswami) targeted me during my Rhea Chakraborty interview, and more, but today I’m going to say — Arnab Goswami, you run a banana republic channel.”
Well said @sardesairajdeep , whatever Arnab is doing for his Banana Republic is just for TRPs . Republic Tv journalists are just a bunch of jokers who should be in circus and not in a studio. #RepublicTv #ArnabGoswami pic.twitter.com/By9mVQQIwv
— Rahil Mohammed (@ImRahilMohammed) October 5, 2020
Sardesai added, “You run a channel that has deliberately created a media trial for whatever your ends are. But do not bring journalism down to the level that you have. This is the only advice I will give you. This is not what journalism is about.”
Sardesai also said there was something more important than TRPs, “television respect points”.
In a targeted response, Goswami Tuesday said, “As someone who is building India’s largest news network from scratch, I have no problem if someone who is decaying, or someone who is decaying and defunct, wants to take my name to gain one day’s relevance.”
#OperationHathras | The Debate with Arnab is now #LIVE, on-air and online, here pic.twitter.com/JMu4NgYJjc
— Republic (@republic) October 6, 2020
Goswami added, “…with the prospect of losing power forever, this ‘lobby’ has gone mad. As they say, this group of people in the media have gone bonkers.”
After Sardesai interviewed Rhea Chakraborty on 27 August, Goswami had targeted him, calling the interview ‘Koffee with Tak’ — in an apparent reference to director Karan Johar’s famous show ‘Koffee With Karan’ and Aaj Tak.
“Are these a journalist’s question or a PR company’s questions?” Goswami had asked.
A week later, Rahul Kanwal took aim at Republic TV for not being able to get an interview with Rhea Chakraborty, apparently comparing Goswami to Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
“Same #BananaRepublic channels that were questioning India Today for interviewing Rhea Chakraborty are hounding Rhea all over town desperately hoping she will speak to them. So why be a sore loser. India Today got an interview you wanted. Learn to lose with grace Goebbels.”
Same #BananaRepublic channels that were questioning @IndiaToday for interviewing @Tweet2Rhea are hounding Rhea all over town desperately hoping she will speak to them. So why be a sore loser. @IndiaToday got an interview you wanted. Learn to lose with grace Goebbels.
— Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) September 8, 2020
Everyday, I receive anguished calls from Reporters working in Banana Republic desperate to get out of the madness. Feel bad for professionals who have to put up with the lunatic. Acting like a road side thug may be a lot of things but it’s not journalism. https://t.co/C1znCVLNlW
— Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) September 7, 2020
Republic TV’s official handle then shared the week’s rating chart that showed the channel well ahead, and asked India Today to “take a chill pill”.
However, this battle has not just played out on TV screens, it got physical too. In the last week of September, two groups of journalists got into a scuffle in Mumbai. According to Republic TV reporter Pradeep Bhandari, he was attacked by “NDTV and ABP goons” for “speaking the truth” — he had reportedly called other channel reporters “chai-biscuit patrakaar“.
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Journalism in India is taking an ugly turn by disappointing the news viewers. Honestly, all TV news channels have become entertainment channels discarding the basic principle of Journalism. Politically biased news reporting is the order of the day who cares about the major issues concerns the average citizen. Journalistic credibility is measured not by honest reporting rather by political link. Remember the plight and fate of the Pandya king Neduncheziyan, in the story of anklet (Silappadikaaram)? Blind faith and the following are not the ways of wise, but the deep inquiry and considered actions are! Regardless of how believable a source may be, still, one must get all the facts straight and make a prudent decision. The men and women of power, must not only be just and wise but appear to be so too.
Shut down Republic TV it has already created a lot of trouble day in and day out.
shutting down republic will help us get peace of mind and get this guy off the channel. He is disrespectful and downright abusive and targetted a person just because he could swing a politicised narrative. Mr Goswami. Times up. GO
The truth is out now.
The FIR mentioned India Today – not once but multiple times. Not for once did it mention Republic TV.
The Mumbai CP seems to be perpetually suffering from Foot in Mouth Disease.
Quite unfortunately, Left liberal media outlets like NDTV were way too elated by the baseless statements made by the Mumbai CP – even going to the extent of interviewing him on this issue.
Now all of them have eggs on their face.
vultures are ready to attack republic tv now. Get life
Rahul Kanwal has very little to show for himself. Arnab may not be the acme of journalism in this nation but undoubtedly he is a million times better than clown Kanwal.
Mr. Kanwal cannot even speak English properly.
The print is publishing fake news, Govt should take action against him
Republic TV? The irony is in the name itself.
We are with Republic Bharat. Only channel showing truth. We have seen AajTak’s biased coverage on Haatras.
So journalists are now exchanging blows on the roads? Guess who benefits the most from all of this? Intelligent people will understand who will win out of this. Rest my case.
Targeting. Republic will help them to garner more viewers