It’s not often that established TV news anchors get their comeuppance – yaani ki, a taste of their own bitter medicine. But so it came to pass this week, when not one but three prominent TV news personalities, Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami, Zee News’ Sudhir Chaudhary and News Nation’s Deepak Chaurasia, found themselves face-to-face with ‘tukde-tukde’ of what they define as the Left-liberal Lutyens’ lobby and discovered what it was like to be badgered, berated, bullied – and silenced. (If this sentence doesn’t win a prize for alliteration, what will?)
In a way, they came face-to-face with themselves: for once, they were the targets, not the firing squad. And from their responses, you could tell it wasn’t a very pleasurable experience.
Goswami’s ‘encounter’ occurred off-camera but was captured on a mobile phone camera and spread far and wide by social media: during a verbal assault by comedian Kunal Kamra on an Indigo flight, he studiously studied something on his lap, behind dark glasses. He maintained a stony silence, seemed unmoved by Kamra’s attack. Nor did he refer to the incident on his Wednesday or Tuesday shows.
I did this for my hero…
I did it for Rohit pic.twitter.com/aMSdiTanHo— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) January 28, 2020
Chaudhary and Chaurasia, Monday, visited the latest heritage site in India, arguably more famous than even the Taj Mahal right now – Shaheen Bagh. They were escorted by Delhi Police and by their camera crews up to a police barricade — on the other side, were the women of Shaheen Bagh, shaking their hands from side to side in a gesture that said, so far and no further, those who trespass are not welcome. They then sang the national anthem.
Despite requests from the two TV anchors, the Shaheen Bagh protesters refused to engage with them. The rejected suitors were understandably dejected: it’s not every day that their advances are so easily spurned — after all, people are only too eager to visit their TV studios.
However, Chaudhary and Chaurasia are made of stern stuff and so they stood their ground: they talked to each other on camera and criticised the lack of social grace displayed by the women of Shaheen Bagh (at least they could have been offered some biryani!).
Also read: Kamra-Goswami saga: from Wright Brothers to ‘lowly pest’, Kunal Kamra is a Twitter legend
Shows that go on
Later in his nightly show DNA, Sudhir Chaudhary sounded very much like a man scorned: he alleged that Shaheen Bagh was “Dilli ka Kashmir” where Article 370 was still in place. “If you are not part of the tukde tukde gang you are not allowed in,” he complained, adding that he felt he was entering “another country”.
That would be Pakistan, of course. If Zee News does not spend at least 30 minutes every evening attacking the neighbouring country, it wouldn’t be Zee News. Monday, it showcased ‘Operation 40 days’ in which the Indian armed forces would take back Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK); on Tuesday, it was ‘240 hours’ in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan for PoK would be executed (Zee Hindustan).
But we digress. Back to the anchors and their opponents. In both cases, the anchors were given a mouthful – something they do daily to others, on their TV shows.
Also read: On JNU violence, video war on India’s news channels: Times Now aired 10, Republic TV had 7
Bad choice, Kamra
That, however, doesn’t justify Kunal Kamra’s outburst. It was ill-advised – it shouldn’t be excused on the grounds that he was simply doing what Goswami does on air – you can’t employ the same means that you criticise in others.
Kamra is a comedian who appears on live gigs; he is also very active on social media. So, there was no need to accost Arnab Goswami, in person. Had he stuck to his jokes at the anchor’s expense, he could have made him the laughing stock of TV which would have yielded far more satisfying results.
As it is, the encounter ended up harming Kamra more than Goswami.
@MoCA_GoI @HardeepSPuri In light of the recent incident on board 6E 5317 from Mumbai to Lucknow, we wish to inform that we are suspending Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with IndiGo for a period of six months, as his conduct onboard was unacceptable behaviour. 1/2
— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) January 28, 2020
The latter emerged from the incident smelling of roses, praised for his forbearance in the face of provocation — and with the full backing of the Modi government after Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted his disapproval of Kamra’s “offensive behaviour” and recommended that airlines boycott him — which, of course, they all too obediently did immediately, barring Vistara.
Offensive behaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable & endangers safety of air travellers.
We are left with no option but to advise other airlines to impose similar restrictions on the person concerned. https://t.co/UHKKZfdTVS
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 28, 2020
#FlyAI: In view of the incident onboard @IndiGo6E, Air India wishes to inform that conduct of Person concerned is unacceptable.With a view to discourage such behavior onboard flts, Mr Kunal Kamra is suspended from flying on any Air India flt until further notice. @HardeepSPuri .
— Air India (@airindiain) January 28, 2020
SpiceJet has decided to suspend Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with the airline till further notice. @MoCA_GoI @DGCAIndia @HardeepSPuri @IndiGo6E
— SpiceJet (@flyspicejet) January 29, 2020
GoAir has suspended Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with the airline till further notice @MoCA_GoI @DGCAIndia @HardeepSPuri @IndiGo6E
— GoAir (@goairlinesindia) January 29, 2020
In fact, the airlines did Kamra a favour by declaring him persona non grata so hastily — everyone could sympathise with him for being victimised without even a complaint against him.
Also read: Zee News, Times Now, Aaj Tak must perish in 2020. India’s TV news needs to go back a decade
Shaheen Bagh
As for the protesters of Shaheen Bagh, they ought to have allowed Chaudhary & Chaurasia into their parlour, offered them hospitality, a cuppa tea, and sent them about their business.
By refusing to entertain the two anchors who they consider ‘godi media’ when others like Ravish Kumar (NDTV India) are welcome, they missed an opportunity to engage with those who disagree with them.
If you must take people to task, follow the example of Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi’s chief minister. He has appeared at town hall sessions telecast live across news channels – and he didn’t pick favourites.
And so, there he was at NDTV 24×7 and at Times Now. Rahul Shivshankar hosted him at Times Now and did his best to patronise Delhi’s CM, corner him with tough questions. Arvind Kejriwal kept his cool and then at an opportune moment, launched a counter-attack in which he told Shivshankar that his channel promoted the Hindu-Muslim divide, that it didn’t have the courage to question the Modi government on India’s economy — otherwise it would be shut down, etcetera, etcetera.
The audience applauded and Shivshankar, at least momentarily, was silenced.
How much self importance, narcissism and gloating does your cabal give itself ? Prize for alliteration? This article will not win a prize for anything because it is devoid of human decency and logic. You spent the first few paragraphs berating the opposing ideology and offered no balanced opinion on their positions. We all know that many TV news channel peddle half truths of some sort of the other. The liberal media does it very often too, so why do you guys always take the high moral ground that you dont deserve? Your colleagues are well known for wiping out or completely white washing certain hard truths. It is the liberal media that has been in control for ages and what we see as the rw media now is just a tiny reaction to the unforgivable excesses from your fraternity. Leaving that aside, when Arnab heckles people, those people sign up for the heckling by going on his show. No one forced them to be on his show. They can all collectively boycott his show, who is stopping them? We know that these are just TRP wars. Hence, when Kunal Kamra stalked Arnab, it was just a crude and vile publicity stunt that went awry. When Arnab refused to engage, he should have politely gone back to his seat. Celebrities and journalists give themselves too much importance these days. In the process of bringing someone down or winning an argument, you guys have literally become “that” very thing you hate. What an irony! The public has a gazillion options now to get their news from, we don’t need you proud popes, priests and peeps presiding over the people any more! Hope you get the point.
Just one question Ms Bajpai which you seem to have conveniently glossed over. Arnab Goswami does what you accuse him of on air on his show. Was the Aircraft cabin the stage for the comedy show of Mr. Kamra? To my mind Mr. Kamra comes across as a frustrated man which most of your ilk are these days.
Both media and their political masters are dividing us. I am surprised that media has simply ignored what R Channel did with Tejaswi Yada in flight when the reporter was allowed to gatecrash inside and provoked him to answer about resignation as Dy CM inspite his repeated request not to disturb other passengers and it is not right place. Why no action was taken then against channel or its reporter. What Kunal did was stupidity and in process helped Goswami to get media attention.
Very nice article. No matter which side you are on, it is always important to communicate effectively with all. Should be read by more people.
I applaud the author of this article. I started with the article just to know the updates of the events, but I was very happy and surprised (good) to read a well balanced and outright opinionated article esp. in a time while journalism is so biased and skewed. Looking forward from such inbaised and brave hearted journalists. I realises it’s hard to pull off a balanced, unbaised perspective (not even news) on any topic now a days. So, my request is to keep gng with same spirit and focused. Ignore the hate comments. Cheers
Words have meaning and one must congratulate the author on using “verbal assault” to correctly identify what occurred. It wasn’t heckling and it wasn’t trolling. There was no consent during the engagement and individuals should realize that one can’t simply open ones phone and start recording videos / take pictures of individuals and publish them publically without consent.
Mr. Puri’s actions are dissappointing but perhaps understandable after being tagged by IndiGo on Twitter .. but since when did Twitter become the means by which official communication occurs? This is absurd. Sure, tweet digital versions of official documents if one must, but our reliance on controlling the ‘narrative’ is making us all trigger happy.
The central government needs to learn how to de-escalate contentious issues rather than falling prey to their natural tendencies of bringing on the fight, so to speak.
Yes, we are supposed to take the high road, always. And these right-wingers “lowly pests”, so call “media” keeps on desecrating every single voice of dissent. Every single.
Don’t write a full article to defend indecent acts of mad people
So lets say a BJP supporter serves the same nuance (‘unsavory not unruly’) to Kamra, Pranay Ray, Sardeshai or to this pilot – will it be the same reaction? If you normalize a passenger abusing the other without any punishment then everyone can do it. Do you want to fly with people fighting with each other? Will you then find out who is unsavory and who is unruly? No matter which side you align this is unacceptable from a safety point of view. Imagine if Arnab reacted the same way it could have been a hazard!
On 11 Feb we shall get to know whether education and health care wins or rabid communalism does. Communal polarization seldom fails to catch votes.
How am i supposed to report a website?
I pity you, author of this article, whatever your name is. No, don’t bother telling me. I wouldn’t care less.
I feel for you. The pain you and your ilk are feeling all the time, with no respite. I really feel for you.
To suddenly become redundant is one thing. To become inconsequential is quite another. For decades you and your ilk have propagated utter nonsense and got away with it. Suddenly, the people of this Nation have realised that you make no sense and have stopped paying any attention. And to add injury to insult, they now laugh at you. Nay, like me, they pity you. Sad. A sad day for all of you indeed.
Take my advise, find another profession. At least you will be able to feed yourself and family with dignity. No one will hold your past against you. You are what you were taught by similarly confused people. The individual should be pitied, not held responsible for the intellectual confusion they imbibed in early life from the group.
Bye bye. May the good God give you the courage to lead a good, meaningful and fulfilling life, even if no one takes you seriously anymore.
The whole tone of this article is berating the journalists who dont sit well with ideological world view of the author & her employer. Its clear that she doesnt appreciate (to put it mildly) the journalism of Arnab, Sudhir chaudhary, Deepak chaurasia & rahul shivshankar. The problem is, and i have posted on Print before, that for decades there was no alternative point of view to what the leftists peddled in India! It was the same lie which was told in JNU & DU history classrooms, OR in the editorials of TOI & HT & NDTV studios. Why? Because those people from JNU’s brainwashed classrooms went straight into media and magnified the lies they were told. But now, over the last 7-8 years, due to a robust social media millions of other who dont agree with this cabal can air their opinion instantly. Also many media outlets have emerged that are willing to deviate from the left fanatic standards of reporting, and present an alternative point of view. This is whats riling up the established leftist media crocodiles. You are actually not criticizing kunal kamra, you are not admonishing him for his uncouth behaviour, but you are actually telling him what to do next time. Also, in conclusion, DO THINK why shaheen bagh ‘protestors’ dont engage in dialogue. Its simply because they cant. They dont know why they are there. They are just brainwashed zombies incapable of even understanding the issue. And those that do understand, like this website, Yourself & others at TOI & India Today & NDTV, are just too biased to acknowledge that there is in reality no basis for any protest. I challenget Ms Malhotra & Shekhar Gupta to take their whole biased team of journalists & get into a public debate with Deepak Chaurasia, Sudhir Chaudhary & Rahul Shiv Shankar. Take NDTV Ravish Kumar & Nidhi Razdaan with You. You people wont have anything to say, except ‘nation in danger’, ‘intolerance’, ‘idea of india’….no facts, no reality…just propaganda.
Even our PM doesn’t engage in press conferences. At least not alone. Does that mean he doesn’t even know why he is here? Also you seem to be peddling a “equanimity” Kind of ideology yet you call, one of the only 2 top 500 universities, JNU , as “lie peddlers”….That is truly funny when you oppose your own advice/idea in the next sentence. 240 hours to take back PoK is not a lie but the idea that constitution is in danger is a lie? Practice what you preach boy….
In our country if someone is abused for anti-govt remarks it is intolerance and if someone is abused for pro-govt remarks then it is “giving it back”. Wow!