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On Republic TV, Arnab was news, news was Arnab. They never missed him

Visuals of Arnab’s arrest have been repeated day in and day out, accompanied by the commentary of little Arnabs – the anchors of Republic TV.

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The entire country, world and the universe — or at least the Republic of Arnab Goswami — erupted in joy and applause when the Supreme Court granted him bail Wednesday afternoon in what Republic TV called a “massive victory”. By then, he had spent eight days or “nearly 150 hours”, as Republic TV anchor Rhythm calculated, away from us in prison. “Arnab Goswami, mere bhai, newsroom vaapis aa rahe hain..” declared another Republic anchor, punching the air with his fist. “We will never cow down, never cow down…” sniffed a reporter, wiping away her tears.

Was there life at Republic without Arnab? Yes, indeed, because although he may not have been with us in the flesh, he was there in the footage — and in the headlines (“Arnab Gets Bail”) and the hashtags (#ArnabIsBack) and on the lips of everyone at Republic: “We are eagerly awaiting when Arnab Goswami is back”.


Arnab was never gone

Truth be told, it was like he never went away at all. We have seen more of him, heard more about him while he was in jail than when he was amongst us. Since last Tuesday’s remand to judicial custody, we have seen his face in every commercial break with the slogan ‘No fear. No favour’. We have watched videos of the police in his apartment, just before his arrest; of his bruised arm and socked feet; of him framed behind the bars on the window of the police van taking him to Taloja jail as he cried out, “My life is under threat…”

We have seen excerpts from his speeches celebrating “my newsroom”, we have seen old footage from The Debate with Arnab Goswami, we have seen posters of him held up by protestors wearing Arnab T-shirts, in Agartala, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Patna, Ayodhya, Bhopal, Mumbai, Delhi… and we have witnessed him flashing the ‘V for Victory’ sign again and again and again — “We will not bow”.

These visuals have been repeated, day in and day out, hour upon hour. They have been accompanied by the commentary of the “beautiful team” of little Arnabs – the anchors and reporters of Republic TV and Republic Bharat who did everything they could to sound just like him: Niranjan, Aishwarya, Abhishek, Sagarika, Shivani, Rhythm, Sucharita and Pradeep Chakravarty, among others.

Since last week, Team Arnab has chanted, “Arnab, Arnab, Arnab”. They have tried to fill the void he left behind – “As his team, we came here every day and told the people of this country… we want justice…” said a reporter after the Supreme Court gave him bail.


Also read: Nation wants to know if there is more to Republic TV besides Arnab Goswami


Release Arnab, a ‘global’ campaign

The Republic newsroom pursued with single-minded devotion campaigns to ‘Release Arnab’, ignoring all other developments, barring the day’s headlines and the Bihar election.

Ironically, Republic journalists have enjoyed more screen time without Arnab than they did with him. But that doesn’t matter because it has all been for Arnab.

With every breath, they have pleaded the righteous cause of “my older brother Arnab”, “every mother’s son, Arnab…’’ They fielded panel discussions on Arnab’s continuing incarceration; they questioned, they lectured and scorned those who have dared do this to Arnab. They have tracked every single detail of “our” court cases for Arnab — on Wednesday, the Supreme Court hearing of his bail case began at sunrise and ended at sunset. They stood vigil outside the police station during his interrogation, they ran after the police vans transporting him, gasping out their reports on his “last words” as the vehicle sped away. “Arnab’s fight is Bharat’s fight,” they proclaimed every hour, adding that Arnab represented each and every Indian.

The two channels showed us “the nationwide” nay, the global “roars”, the “unrelenting… unprecedented support” for  “hero” Arnab — from San Francisco and Texas, to the UK, Australia and even South Africa, the whole world was demanding his release — they said. Some Indians in New Jersey, we were told, planned to write to the US State Department to deny visas to ministers in the Maharashtra government for this “illegal arrest’’.

“We want Arnab back safely,” said a woman at a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar; “We want our lion back”. This is the refrain of the protestors —many wearing saffron scarves — was seemingly everywhere: Rupa in London, Keinnas somewhere in the UK, tribals and coastal people in Maharashtra, or so we were told, and even villagers, said G.J. Singh, a former army officer.

When the screen wasn’t filled with anchors or protestors, there were sadhus and sants performing havans in Mumbai, and Patna, diyas were being lit in Mathura and aarti was at Vrindavan — all to help release Arnab.

From them, we moved to the newsroom where journalists were seen standing in solidarity with Arnab, speaking out against his arrest — in Assam, Odisha, Delhi and Mumbai. Channels like Prag News, OTV and Newslive, in one voice, raised the alarm — ‘today Arnab, tomorrow us’.

And what about the prime time debate at 9pm and 10pm that Arnab had made his very own? Well, after footage of Arnab’s speeches, debates and his arrest, panel discussions went on air with like-minded people to decry the arrest. There were advocates like Aman Sinha and Anuj Saxena, and a plethora of BJP leaders – Shazia Ilmi, Zafar Islam, Gaurav Bhatia leading the way. And there was, of course, Major General (retd) G.D. Bakshi on air, almost every day for  the “custodian of the poorest of the poor…who had been paraded like a terrorist…”

All of this was said and done in the name of Arnab Goswami, who is Bharat, who is all of us:  “Justice Chandrachud, on his birthday, has given India a birthday gift,” commented Rhythm. As far as Republic was concerned, Arnab is the news and the news is Arnab.

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38 COMMENTS

  1. I can feel your pain…, it’s okay !!!!
    Don’t cry
    It’s hard to compete with Arnab.
    It’s unbearable to see so much love for him, right?
    Should I send out some burnol ?
    Is that what you call “journalism” ?
    I think you should change your profession

  2. Well said. Most education people with the power to form an opinion themselves( not meaning opinion planted by propaganda spreading people) can’t tolerate this so-called journalist Arnab.
    Yes he did open his own channel with BJP funding. A journalist who abuses all opposition parties ( abuse not criticism) is merely a political agent.
    His debates are the biggest jokes. It’s basically a monologue in which he allows his friends to speak if they agree with him. What an absolute joker.
    Republic media has no diversity as far as news content is considered. No focus on economy, jobs, health but only spewing hate and dividing people.
    It’s these gullible people who fall to the trap of believing all the trash shown to them to divert focus from REAL issues.
    Meanwhile you will be called ‘jealous’ and ‘anti-national’.

  3. Mr.Shekher u gave many observations and comments on so many fields in ur talks,which were correct ,but no one noticed them except few,Arnab is a loud speaker , true, to make his opinion heard.And its really heard by the country and is making an impact. Rajdeep,your self though good journalists have no impact on the society.

  4. I know many journalists like you feel the same when you see a top journalist like Arnab doing things he is best at. It’s time for you to learn what journalism is from Arnab and start watching Republic TV.

  5. Try being arrested for a crime you have not committed to understand what this was all about. We will see how may people will stand by you. Your article lacks empathy/ understanding of the core issue.
    I wonder why print has even published it!

  6. It takes immense Guts to leave Lutyens Media and start something of his own and then Dominate the news space. Arnab knows all tips and tricks of Liberals as he too started his journey of journalism from the crucible of NDTV and now he is showing them the mirror.
    What doesn’t kills you makes you stronger, now the only way is up for Republic and Arnab.
    Modi made Shekhar Gupta, Punya Prasoon Bajpai, Ajeet Anjum, Abhisar Sharma Youtubers 🙂 🙂 🙂 and Congress Made Arnab a Hero ..
    Big laugh on you too Ms Shailaza

  7. When u as media do not support other media people only because he has gain more popularity than others. Keep asking for charity and you will get nothing after such hateful article.

  8. Arnob is an embarassment to India, and his bhakths even more so. They show how uneducated, worshipful, Third World India is.

    1 year before Arbob launched his channel, he had promised it will be on a par with BBC. That was the level of hyperbole. What we got is the trashiest of trash. This is the best Hindutva can deliver.

  9. Sometime people do not see what’s coming at them when the mock someone else.

    What happened to Arnab can happen to anyone from Non- Congress state ruled states..Congress has made a new template to harass journalist and so called MSM did only lip service while republic made noise.

    Some one else will write about ….. Et al if MSM does not introspect and course correct.
    Remember Vivekanand’s words ‘silence of capable’

  10. Hello Shailaja
    You have written an article which is absolutely amazing for Lutyens. I respect the fact that you did your job as an article writer. But you know, the fact that Arnab Goswami debates for only 2 to 2:30 hours and during that time, no other media has gained viewership as much as he has gained will be somewhat harsh for you and I recommend BURNOL . From morning to till 9 at night, it’s all about other news anchors like Rhythm, Aishwarya and many others. I consider this topic of yours as a mindgame to make the faithful and talented anchors of Republic TV leave. But one thing is for sure. Whether you agree with him or not, what had happened for the past 10 days was a murder of constitution and misuse of power. So I request you to once go through the facts and stop misleading the people. My apologies if this has hurt you in anyways. Thank you

  11. Spare a thought for Rhea Chakrovarty, who waged a solitary war during her incarceration with much more dignity than this loud mouth who had the might of his entire channel behind him. Nobody saw her wailing from behind the grilled police vehicles blaming the cops like Arnab did ‘ mujhe mara, appeal to the Supreme Court, my life is threatened …… “. And we have Supreme Court that seems to be bending over backwards to accommodate Arnab’s plaints the moment they are lodged but has no time to take up the cases of the hundreds of people illegally incarcerated for protesting against the removal of Article 370.

  12. IS this news or an opinion ? The deafening silence of the entire media amounting to news black out can only be out of disgust for Arnab or the fear of the reprisal. The media does not even want to mention the SC’s observation that for constitutional courts the guarantees given by constitution over ride all other considerations such as the procedures etc.
    HOW CAN THE MEDIA OVERLOOK SUCH AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF WHICH THEY WILL BE THE Beneficiaries in the future regardless of who has been instrumental in bringing it up..

  13. Shekhar G and all those who work for The Print are midgets and failures in comparison to Mr.
    Arnab & his team.
    Your silly little article worthy of a 8th standard school essay, reeks of jealousy.
    Are you surprised that 90% of people commenting on your articles are virtually spitting at you?

  14. First make basic right. Is this the way to pick up a citizen and arrest. Is he a terrorist. That why you are not highlighting. That is the pain point Rt

  15. I am in the same league as Justice Chandrachud. I don’t watch the debate with Arnab. I don’t want to see anyone browbeaten. Be that as it may, you guys are envious of him, turning green. He is the first one amongst the TV journalists to become the owner of the TV Channels, while you and guys of your ilk remain salaried employees! Like him or not, with his abrasive style of conducting interviews and debates, he has etched himself a permanent place in the media history of contemporary India.

  16. Assuming someone donated the Print Rs 1000/-. Can we get Rs. 100 back? I mean I love you and everything but clearly you don’t like Goswami and have previous issues with him isn’t it, SHEKHAR? He carried out a proper investigation on murder of SSR and Disha Salian while you bask in the glory that they are suicides. Your appetite for coincidences is great but here you are positively famished. Its amazing because your other items are proper, nuanced and factual where it can be. This here is really sad more than it is offensive. WAKE UP!

  17. Assuming someone donated the Print Rs 1000/-. Can we get Rs. 100 back? I mean I love you and everything but clearly you don’t like Goswami and have previous issues with him isn’t it, SHEKHAR? He carried out a proper investigation on murder of SSR and Disha Salian while you bask in the glory that they are suicides. Your appetite for coincidences is great but here you are positively famished. Its amazing because your other items are proper, nuanced and factual where it can be. This here is really sad more than it is offensive. WAKE UP!

  18. Speaks volumes about the politically immature Shivsena. They made a journalist into hero because of their high handedness. I sometimes feel that the sole objective of Sanjay Raut is to take some old revenge from Bala Saheb Thackeray and his Shiv Sena.
    On one hand, BJP and Sangh Parivar made some well established journalists into mere youtubers and ‘anti national’, Shiv Sena is unnecessarily meddling into petty issues despite Maharashtra being rampaged by Covid 19.

    Feel pity for Uddhav who is a simple man caught up amongst some very shrewd and cunning people on his side. People will understand who I’m referring to.

  19. True..coz Arnab is a hero..an inspiration for us..a personality who can never be defeated by that Sonia sena and her puppets..and people like Dhruv Rathee and Swara bhaskar shall keep blurring out shit about him taaki thoda footage mile.. News website like yours , or The Quint ,TOI will continue to print rubbish which no one will pay heed to..

  20. Bullshit article, full of jealousy. If you are not able to achieve what someone has attached then accept it. Don’t try to make fool of common man !!!

  21. If this is the case than why so much haraciry….why MH government is scared of Republic…stop ur nasty propaganda…u r simply jealous…u r doing nasty journalism for sure 👍

  22. Why are you bothered what Republic does?? Your all librandus are scared and jealous that your TRP is dropped.. additionally you are using Arnab’s name to get visibility through search results ! Sham on you ! Your TV channel.is not flying and now you are crying here !

  23. Print.. Tumhari jal rahi hai na.. Arnab ki popularity dekhker.. Nationalist and truth dikhao.. Biko mat.. Tumko bhi log padeinge..
    Itni jalan thhik nahi.. Tumhare journalists ki naukri isliye ja rahi hai kyoonki tum log truth nahi likhte. Tum log bik jaate ho.

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