Nation wants to know why Arnab Goswami has quit Times Now
It's the biggest tectonic shift in Indian mediascape. The man who defined prime time TV news for almost nine years, turned it into a shouting marathon of gradable patriotisms in his most-watched Newshour,the one and only Arnab Goswami, has stepped down as the Editor-in-Chief and President of Times Now and ET Now.
Goswami's resignation, now confirmed, comes after days of undercurrents and speculations in the media sphere that the TV news honcho is toying with the idea of floating his own channel. He finally announced it at an editorial meeting when he declared his intention of starting something of his own in the near future.
Goswami is widely being credited with redefining Indian TV news from a measured exercise in news-heavy sobriety to an opinionated, obfuscating experiment in chestbeating hypernationalism.
He started out as an assistant editor at The Telegraph, but soon moved to NDTV where he rose to fame anchoring a number of programmes, and working side by side with senior journalists and his then colleagues such as Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai.
Goswami left NDTV to launch Times Now in 2006 as its Editor-in-Chief, but initially, there were no takers among the audiences who were too used to the comfort of watching the established news channels.
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| Speculations are rife that Goswami will launch his own channel with a much more overtly pro-BJP tilt. [Photo: Indiatoday.in] |
Until Arnab Goswmi reinvented himself, along with Indian TV news. With his characteristic gladiatorial contests masquerading as debate and discussion, the unabashed browbeating of dissenters and taking extremely polarised positions on nuanced issues, Arnab Goswami turned the prime time TV into an infotainment slot, and saw the TRPs rising like never before.
Since then, Arnab Goswami's Newshour has maintained at times almost a 2000 per cent lead on programmes aired at the same time on other channels. Times Now has been at the number one position for eight years at a stretch, thanks to Newshour, while "Arnab" has become a noun, a verb and a phenomenon signifying this boisterous turn in India's news ecosystem.
Arnab Goswmi has been derided, lampooned and criticised in a number of coverstories, particularly by The Caravan and Outlook, which have traced his meteoric rise to fame while sacrificing any modicum of journalistic integrity. However, none of that has managed to dent his immense popularity among ordinary Indians.
Arnab Goswami's proximity - both ideological and personal - with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as business behemoth Mukesh Ambani has been the fodder of much media gossip as well as opinion pieces on compromised state of journalism in India.
PM Modi gave his first TV interview to none other than Goswami as he completed two years in office. The interview was criticised because it was widely felt that Goswami treated the Q&A session with the prime minister with kid gloves.
But Arnab is also known for his unending reservoir of energy and newsroom frenzy which is the very backbone of his channel. Unlike the other newschannels which boast of a cluster of well-groomed, rounded news anchors and jouralists, each with their own fan base, Times Now has been a one-man show for eight years now.
So what will be Arnab's next course of action? Speculations are rife that he will launch his own channel with a much more overtly pro-BJP tilt. It must be noted that the editorial rift between Goswami/Times Now and the Jain brothers who own the Times group, particularly the Times of India, was widening, especially in the wake of Arnab's increasingly unabashed hyper-patriotism and not brooking any criticism whatsoever of the government on his show or channel.
Equally loved and hated by the general public, Arnab's popularity on the social media is of course nothing short of a phenomenon. His resignation thus, not surprisingly, caused a flurry. From shock, to disbelief to just plain stunned (pardon the pun) resignation, Arnab, even with his adieu to Times Now, has managed to silence almost everyone.
It's official: Arnab Goswami has resigned from Times Now! Probably to start his own venture. #TimesNowTRPsToPlunge
— Sahil Bhalla (@IMSahilBhalla) November 1, 2016
'A nation wants to know' when will #ArnabGoswami start to trend on twitter? @vineetkhare @priyadarshibbc @BBCPankajP @rupa_jha @BBCMukeshS
— Nitin Srivastava (@TweetNitinS) November 1, 2016
Arnab Goswami quits Times Now.
— Shivam Vij (@DilliDurAst) November 1, 2016
Rishi JaitlyArnab GoswamiRamadorai Hatrick resignations of 1st November 2016
— AD (@anaggh) November 1, 2016
End of an era with Arnab quitting Times Now. I shall observe one minute noise to mark the occasion.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) November 1, 2016
:O Arnab Goswami resigns from Times Now, says could start another venture https://t.co/gomhLJrEm9
— ¯_(ツ)_/¯ (@PranavDixit) November 1, 2016
WHAT?Arnab Goswami resigns from Times Now?Is this real?BUT, WE DIDN'T LET HIM FINISH!LET HIM FINISH!LET HIM FINISH!1 MINUTE.
— Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) November 1, 2016
Times Now is talking about Twitter's head quitting. And Twitter is talking about Times Now's head quitting pic.twitter.com/16a31vzZ7A
— St_Hill (@St_Hill) November 1, 2016
No Navratri music. No Diwali firecrackers. Now, no Arnab Goswami. This is too good to be true.
— Aniruddha Guha (@AniGuha) November 1, 2016
Er, for all those celebrating, Arnab isn't going off TV screens –he's just leaving TimesNow. What the Jains do here is almost as interesting
— Rohan Venkat (@RohanV) November 1, 2016
Of course, the jokes have only just begun.
Arnab Goswami is joining as Army Chief.
— Rahul Roushan (@rahulroushan) November 1, 2016
#NoiseFreeDiwali https://t.co/zNeuHW2VXw
— croak studio (@krazyfrog) November 1, 2016
Job openings at:1. Tata.2. Twitter.3. Times Now.
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) November 1, 2016
Arnab Goswami is so insecure that he resigned just to steal Cyrus Mistry's thunder.
— Angad Singh Ranyal (@PiratedSardar) November 1, 2016
ARNAB WILL RETURN.ON A DRAGON.
— Sahil Shah (@SahilBulla) November 1, 2016
First ever resignation letter written in all caps.
— Overrated Outcast (@over_rated) November 1, 2016
I hope #ArnabGoswami now has enough time to focus on his main job - pic.twitter.com/5Q3QLIpQk8
— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) November 1, 2016
Arnab will now launch his own WWE-like wrestling franchise.
— Madhu Menon (@madmanweb) November 1, 2016
I hear the sound of silence.
— Sachin Kalbag (@SachinKalbag) November 1, 2016
Why does Arnab need to invest in a new channel? Just sit at home and speak no? Everyone can hear.
— ClooneyOfKerala (@sidin) November 1, 2016
I guess Y Security could not give Job Security.#ArnabGoswami
— Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) November 1, 2016
Typical of Arnab Goswami to quit on the last day of a long weekend. We dont like Mondays either but we just whine on twitter, not quit.
— xxx (@Michionary) November 1, 2016
Arnab Goswami resigns !Has anyone checked on Sambit Patra ??
— Atul Khatri (@one_by_two) November 1, 2016
Reactions from AAP headquarters when told about #ArnabGoswami 's resignation from Times Now. #ArnabResigns pic.twitter.com/qUIBEPBtG0
— The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) November 1, 2016
Arnab Goswami has resigned. This is my tribute to him. This took 3 years to make. It's called "1 minute". https://t.co/vSFHHtBDDa
— José Covaco (@HoeZaay) November 1, 2016
Normal People: I quit.Arnab Goswami: I QUIT. THE NATION HAS TO KNOW.
— Sahil Shah (@SahilBulla) November 1, 2016
Arnab Goswami quits from Times Now.The channel thus loses a lot of its value AND ALL ITS VOLUME.
— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) November 1, 2016
WE TYPED THIS WITH CAPSLOCK ON IN MEMORY OF NEWSHOUR
— VICE INDIA IS HIP (@ViceIN_is_Hip) November 1, 2016
Arnab Goswami resigns ??Never ever ever never ever ever never ever ever never ever ever break news like this to me !
— Atul Khatri (@one_by_two) November 1, 2016
It will be interesting to watch what Times Now does as a news channel in the post Arnab phase. Will it continue its rants and raves in the same line, or will there be a surgical strike on its editorial policy by the Jain brothers?
Only Times Group will tell.