Arnab Goswami-Other views
I first wrote about Arnab Goswami here:
Contender #1 for worst Indian journalist – Arnab Goswami
Some people feel strongly that I am overtly polarised and am not being fair to this bloke here. Further, as I am no accomplished writer myself, there is some doubt about the credibility I lend to opinions on others. So I thought I’d quote someone else who thought on similar lines atleast.
Excerpts from ‘The Insufferable Shouting Brigade’ by Amita Malik, featured in Sight & Sound in The Tribune:
“SOME years ago, there was a political group in Parliament which went by the rather unflattering title of The Shouting Brigade. Ironically, some of them have since become political spokespersons on television and continue to shout, not allowing others to speak, mostly when they are losing an argument which is one of the specialities of the BJP.
But it is not about them that I use the title this week but, also ironically, about some of the best-known anchors on Indian television.
I have by coincidence met a number of discriminating, sophisticated viewers (one of them a distinguished author) who take their viewing seriously. They expressed their views quite independently at different small gatherings in private homes and they all had a similar complaint which they wanted me to convey in this column. They felt that some established anchors make themselves intolerable by first shouting and then interrupting participants in their programmes. They voice more opinions of their own than give enough time to the participants to develop their arguments.
On top of the list were Rajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswamiof NDTV 24/7, Times Now respectively. And I was not altogether surprised as I had recently often felt uncomfortable about their new aggressiveness, where plain emphasis (a speciality of Tim Sebastian), which is legitimate, is replaced by perpetually raised voices (mostly Rajdeep’s) and rude interruptions(Arnab’s) which seem contrived. This is a new style of aggressive anchoring which is not half as effective as the more balanced and quietly effective style of Vikram Chandra or, of course, the relaxed authoritative style of Prannoy Roy. In this context I find embarrassing, and positively childish, the publicity gimmick of Sardesai throwing a dart to emphasise the belligerent attitude of his weekly programme, The Big Fight. Watching this programme with extra care last week, I found that the raised decibels are initiated at the start by Sardesai himself, who shouts more like a neta addressing an open-air political meeting than a sophisticated anchor who knows the use of the microphone. With the tone set, most of his panellists start shouting too, and, incidentally, Sardesai often chips in with more views of his own than those of the participants. That it is possible to be a panellist in this programme without shouting loudly was proved by both Alyque Padamsee (a theatre person he knows the use of his voice) and the editor of Loksatta. Both spoke emphatically but without shouting like Sardesai and the Shiv Sena participant who, however, was much more amiable than some of his party colleagues and even smiled occasionally. As for Arnab Goswami, he seldom lets a participant complete a sentence before arbitrarily butting in. One feels at times that the anchors have been given a directive to be aggressive and shout, no matter what. But I cannot believe that because the majority of anchors and reporters on NDTV 24/7 manage to keep their cool, and their voices under control”
Enough said!!
Pwned!
Marc
December 18, 2007 at 9:45 am
Waiting for people to butt in
with comments.
Karthik
December 18, 2007 at 5:44 pm
I agree that Arnab Goswami does get aggressive ’sometimes’…….but when he says something he makes it a point to prove himself right…..and according to me he is one of the best
Cynara
January 16, 2008 at 8:09 am
@Cynara,
You are entitled to your view. Saying something and proving yourself is not necessarily journalism or news reporting.
Karthik
January 16, 2008 at 1:52 pm
according to me it is………….what is journalism or news reporting to you Karthik ?
Cynara
January 20, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I dont agree with you at all. Seeming intelligent is a perception thing. I tend to believe that the guy is *actually* intelligent. If you’ve seen Rajdeep Sardesai recently, he’s lost a lot of his original touch and elegance. He appears artificial and so does his wife, Sagarika Ghosh. I think the lady mentioned deserves the award for the worst journalist in India today.
Rohit
March 17, 2008 at 5:48 pm
@Rohit,
I have never heard of Sagarika Ghosh. If you want it that badly, we can ask Arnab and her to share the “Worst Journalist” award. Arnab has to be there though.
Nice to have you on my blog, btw.
Karthik
March 18, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I just have to echo “Arnab Goswami … seldom lets a participant complete a sentence before arbitrarily butting in. One feels at times that the anchors have been given a directive to be aggressive and shout, no matter what”
Muthukaruppan
March 22, 2008 at 3:29 pm
and again, “the raised decibels are initiated at the start by Sardesai himself, who shouts more like a neta addressing an open-air political meeting than a sophisticated anchor who knows the use of the microphone”. I also believe that these people won’t change in their attitudes and their artificial articulations, they may be too old to do so.
Muthukaruppan
March 22, 2008 at 3:33 pm
and even too self-opinionated and egoistic, as though these qualities represent the essence of youth and ebullient/ vibrant intellect, especially before mass media which are useful in their “anchoring” job in political debates.
Muthukaruppan
March 22, 2008 at 3:39 pm
@Muthukaruppan,
Good that some people agree.
Karthik
March 23, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Dr Roy belongs to and is in the Doordarshan mould most of the time. However, he is elegant. Rajdeep Sardesai was at his peak when used to anchor X-factor on NDTV. Unfortunately, he has lost purpose at CNN IBN.
I remember a raw Arnab Goswami on NDTV, who was still at cross roads. At TIMES NOW, he has evolved into a mature newsman. His nine’o'clock NEWS HOUR is one of the most uninturrupted prime time news shows today. He takes on issues, which are not taken by other channels. Strangely, there is a strong contrast to what TIMES OF INDIA as a news paper stands for and what TIMES NOW as a news channel is. I believe, a lot of credit has to go to Arnab, because, FRANKLY SPEAKING, he is doing a good job.
kgsdani
April 19, 2008 at 7:14 am
I don’t know about Arnab Goswami (not having watched television in ages) but Rajdeep Sardesai definitely doesn’t seem intelligent. I find nearly everything he says vacuous.
Then there’s that other woman, I’ve forgotten her name. She was quite big, probably still is. You know that lady with short hair, sort of, hosts these shows where people from an audience talk about stuff like whether Sania Mirza’s skirt being short is a problem. What’s her name? People like her are below the intellectual poverty-line.
George
April 20, 2008 at 8:34 am
@kgsdani,
Agree with you on Roy and Rajdeep.
Can’t say the same of the remainder of your comment.
@George,
Are you talking of Burkha Dutt ? Ha ha. Clearly you hate Indian news anchors and reporters. It’s actually a good thing. Hate them good.
Karthik
April 20, 2008 at 6:34 pm
This man was very impressive. Articulate, polite, and a painfully clever questioner the last time I saw him, which was on HARDtalk India with Jayalalithaa.
Barkha Dutt. I have much to say about her.
George
April 21, 2008 at 11:42 am
@George,
Karan Thapar is good, no doubt. He made Modi sweat in an interview . Modi walked off the interview midway. He has that sort of an effect on people.
Karthik
April 21, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Yeah, Big J was also visibly upset when she left. And he got her that way simply by asking incisive questions.
Barkha Dutt, I remember seeing her on TV after the tsunami. A conversation that went like this (somewhat, not exact):
BD: So we’ve spent crores of rupees on satellites and they weren’t able to detect the tsunami.
ISRO Dude: They weren’t built for that task, and even if they were they’d only be over the area once every sex hours and it’s unlikely they would’ve been able to detect a tsunami even if they were above the area at the time with the tech they had.
BD: Are we going to have tsunami detection equipment?
ISRO Dude: *Something about equipment*
BD: So, can we have these detectors installed in the satellites at least by … tomorrow?
ISRO Dude: *Astounded expression*
See, maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t know we had the capability to send a device up in one day’s notice and have it couple with an existing satellite that has no mechanism to make such an act easier. I’m no expert though.
George
April 22, 2008 at 7:36 pm
@George,
sex hours ? Why do I get the feeling it wasn’t a typo ?
Yea, media people ask the dumbest question and try and sound intelligent when the clearly are not. If it was designed in a hurry and sent up there, (without thorough testing) it would bring the existing satellite down and probably land on some major city. Idiots. They try to sound concerned about things so that viewers would agree with them and in the process make actually intelligent people appear quite stupid.
Also, BD was in this episode of ?? on NDTV on blogging. Freakin hilarious. They were discussing the most mundane stuff and somehow most of the discussions were centred around sex. (Sex hours ?
How dumb for a journalist!!
Karthik
April 23, 2008 at 5:24 am
I…uh…it wasn’t a typo, it was a mindslip. Cut me some slack, I’m only 20 years old, not fifty. Things like that happen.
How did they jump from blogging to sex? Blogging while naked except for a big red cape! I like the idea.
George
April 23, 2008 at 6:53 am
Sure, satellites landing on cities…
Atmosphere: OH HAI KARTHIK, U 4GOT ME!
Marc
April 24, 2008 at 6:05 pm
@George,
It’s alright. I like sex hours anyway.
@Marc,
Crash was the word I must have used. You are supposed to have gotten it anyway. And if you meant the satellite would burn completely, you don’t know physics very well. And we were talking of launch itself. Not that it was in orbit.
Karthik
April 25, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I am not a TV buff. However, I watch news and have been consistently following news channels for more than ten years now.
Karan Thapar tries his best to make people uncomfortable. I do not consider that to be a good vertue in a TV journalist. He thinks he can do Tim Sebastian. I am afraid, he miscerably fails to make even half of Tim.
Yes, hard questions are hard and need to be asked. You can get the truth out in many ways. One need not put words in a Guest’s mouth.
He could make Kapil Dev weep. (Not a great thing again)
I think Barkha Dutt does a neat job of managing people on “We the People”. She tries to make most of her limited abilities. However, I have a different point altogether. Whenever I have seen her talking, she tends to bring in KASHMIR, no matter how irrelevant it may be.
I would tend to agree that most of the news correspondents, when they report from the action site tend to ask really foolish questions. Questions, for which we know what the answer would be. Questions, which have standard answers……Ah…unbearable.
Soemtimes the news anchors also fall into the trap and sound foolish. If the anchors start it, then may GOD help them!
kgsdani
April 29, 2008 at 5:02 pm
About Karan Thapar, I’ve only seen him twice and both times I enjoyed the show because he asked the right questions at the right time. One was when Jayalalithaa was on HARDTalk India, the other I forget. Sure she was uncomfortable, but he wasn’t rude, or even impolite; he was just asking questions that showed her up.
Agree completely with the last paragraph, and I’d add that panel discussions where the moderator is completely clueless are the funniest because the rest of the panel will reach one conclusion and the mod will go in the opposite direction.
Rajdeep Sardesai did that once on CNN-IBN (I don’t watch the channel usually, but my dad was on this discussion) and it was hilarious. Everybody managed to reach a consensus and then he goes and says something like, “The question still remains…” . Weird fellow.
George
April 30, 2008 at 7:55 am
@kgsdani,
When politicians like Jayalalitha and Modi do what they do, they deserve to be questioned the way Karan Thapar questions them.
One feels sorry for Kapil Dev though.
Barkha does try and get mileage from the fact that she reported Kargil LIVE. She doesn’t want us to forget I guess.
@George,
I wish we could record all this and interview these buggers in turn. It will be so nice.
Karthik
April 30, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Dear Karthik,
It seems, hating a modern TV journalist comes to you naturally.
Is there is any specific reason for this?
I would say that most of them are news/nonnews hype experts.
Nonetheless, are all of them like that? What is your opinion?
What are the qualities you look for in a good TV journalist?
kgsdani
May 1, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Since I’m always butting in on conversations I might as well do that here too.
Here’s what I look for. If it’s news, I want less journalist, more journalism. If it’s an interview, I want them to stop lobbing easy questions, this isn’t show-off-your-project-in-class day, it’s real life. Barkha Dutt fails the former, most interviewers fail the latter, and Rajdeep Sardesai just fails.
[not-serious]
A word in for Jajar Singh from Headlines Today. He’s hilarious. Every time he goes “I’m Jajar Singh” I feel like crumpling to the floor in laughter.
[/not-serious]
George
May 1, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Is it Jhujhar Singh or Jajar Singh?
Anyway, I have repeated his name after him several times and ha haa hhaaa….
kgsdani
May 2, 2008 at 1:49 pm
@kgsdani,
Yes, as a matter of fact it does. Simply because they make complete fools of themselves. Just like Bollywood actors do in movies.
I don’t think there are any good reporters on TV left. As you say, most of them are just hype.
What I expect of a TV journalist or a reporter is that they be well informed on the topic at hand. (It is very evident at times that they don’t know what they are talking about. Do your home work.) Also, they should not try and polarise topics on their own. Their opinion doesn’t matter to me.
What has been happening of late is TV NEWS has become a form of entertainment. People want to see gossip on it all the time. Who did Shahid Kapoor kiss. Why Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor are doing what they are doing. !! Like I care. These reporters have absolutely no ethics.
Just like politicians, all they are looking for is mileage from some incident. More coverage, sensationalism, more advertisements, more money. That’s all these people are bothered about.
I remember reading Nidhi Razdan in some magazine saying people from a competing news channel paid people on the streets to burn effigies of Sachin and Dravid after their world cup loss. All this was caught on camera and duly telecast of couse.
If this is the state of affairs, I don’t feel bad about hating journalists and reporters at all. All they do is manipulate the news and serve it with garnishing.
@George,
Jujhar Singh except for his “This is Jhujhar Singh” line was pretty alright compared to most other reporters.
He has disappeared of late. Last I saw him on TV, he was exposing things like how people have goons outside the courtroom to intimidate the witnesses, and how in Delhi one could get the “Non-polluting Vehicle” Licence even if you drove a heavily polluting car and things like that. Not bad at all.
You haven’t seen Entertainment Quarter on HT. The two people there are the next two contenders for the worst journalist award. I’ll dig up on them and write soon.
Karthik
May 3, 2008 at 7:03 am
@ksdani, karthik: So that’s how his name is spelt. I haven’t watched TV in quite a while, so I wouldn’t know. But he’s just awesome. That voice! Ha ha ha.
George
May 3, 2008 at 9:15 am
tl;dr
Marc
May 3, 2008 at 1:30 pm
@Marc,
I knew you were going to say that. You knew you were going to say that. I am sure George knew too.
Karthik
May 4, 2008 at 8:11 am
Dear Marc,
That was one of Karthink’s best posts on this topic so far and you say it is long and could not read!! and you could not write it in full. Really bad.
I normally do not write in at blogs (I came across this page accidentally and found it had some meaning). Most people “blog” to say meaningless thrash. Urban dictionary is good, however it need not be used when one is discussing something serious. Think about it.
I suppose, you might ask what we would achieve by discussing seriously about such things, WELL….it is better than most of our day to day nonsense.
Dear Karthik,
I agree with you. In fact, what you say applies more than 200% to Hindi and other Vernacular news channels. (some English news channels such as BBC World, although not Indian, have still maintained ethics of news broadcast)
Shall we go on with this topic? Your posted it December last year.
kgsdani
May 4, 2008 at 12:01 pm
When Marc’s in his 4chan mood, not even nekkid loli pics will stop him.
And yes, Karthik, I was surprised it didn’t come earlier. I love the BBC. They’re awesome, except for their Eye-rack moments.
George
May 4, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Dear kgsdani,
I forgive your ignorance.
1. I do in fact read all of Karthik’s posts (except those about cricket).
2. I was in fact referring to his long comment and not the post.
3. You thought I didn’t read even though my comment is the first one in this post and first in the post he linked to.
4. So you found the term ‘tl;dr’ and didn’t know what it was. So you went and searched for it on the net (smart move) and found the meaning. But what you didn’t understand was that I was trolling. And the worst possible move is to encourage trolls by addressing them directly. If you do you’ll either get Photoshopped Chuck Norris pictures, pedobear wallpaper or long replies that make you waste time reading them. The ideal move would have been to totally ignore me so that you can go on discussing the actual topic instead of getting completely sidetracked by my responses which, though very interesting and provocative, are not relevant to the discussion at hand in any way. Atleast now you know. Haha I made you read this.
Troll: 1
Hapless Inexperienced Internet Victim: 0
Marc
May 4, 2008 at 9:57 pm
@Marc,
pwned. He was refering to the comment.
“best posts on this topic so far and you say it is long and could not read”
The term post was misleading yes, but then you shouldn’t have fallen for it.
@kgsdani,
Marc is a fellow college mate and we keep doing such things in each others’ blogs. Nothing to worry about.
Karthik
May 5, 2008 at 7:25 am
My apologies to Karthik. I started a nonsense conversation with Marc and this will be my last post on this topic. Thank you.
From Pwned to tl;dr to a dummy post. Good progress Marc!!
kgsdani
May 5, 2008 at 9:25 am
Can’t we all just get along? Where is the love?
George
May 5, 2008 at 12:00 pm
He clearly said post. Regardless of what he meant point 4 still applies.
Marc
May 5, 2008 at 2:38 pm
@Kgsdani,
Why the apologies ?
@George,
Ejjatly
@Marc,
Give it a break.
Karthik
May 6, 2008 at 2:38 pm
What the…. ??? i read this now. neat and relevant.
Sudeep
May 16, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Hi all,
I agree with the original post that so well describes the “yelling” in Indian television.
The topper is Sagarika Ghose from CNN-IBN, who is intolerable besides defeating the purpose of an interview. She has a shrill voice and most of the time is being paid to override the interviewees. Another is Rajdeep Sardesai … guys it should have bagged the “Best english yelling channel”.
Red
Reddy
June 17, 2008 at 1:07 am
@Sudeep,
The linked post ?
@Reddy,
I am yet to see this Sagarika Ghosh (or atleast don’t know her by name.) Is she the one who speaks with a false accent ?
Karthik
June 18, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Being a journo i wont call anybody the worst ……as there is always a fight to promote the brand instead of let the poeple knows news as it is, so everybody has his/her own style to remain in the battle. I do agree that anchors speak or sometime cry like spokespersons…..so do Rajdeep and Arnab! whatever the case u can tag them best or worst…..they are journalists, let them do their job….becoz u can’t get delicacy of Dr. Pranoy Roy out of everybody.
ramkumar kaushik
July 17, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Arnab Goswami is spreading hatred in Indian people against Jammu movement against Indian Govenment order of apeasing to anti national parties by giving wrong facts and not knowing anything.He should be mature enough to accept that and do journalism without any bias.
Mukul Jain
August 7, 2008 at 8:16 pm
you guys are mad
yuvraj
September 8, 2008 at 1:18 pm
arnab goswami is the best
yuvraj
September 8, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Arnab has changed the way one sees the news!!
What would a man and a student want to see in news after a hectic day.His channel is maintaining the media image in eyes of other countries.
Kartik i think u are a guy who would prefer watching Aaj Tak or IBN 7 or maybe India TV….lol
PLZ if u dont like Arnab and his work,at least dont post such threads where no one agrees with u
ENJOY DUDE!!
mail me at giriraj_mastermind@yahoo.co.in
Unknown
November 28, 2008 at 4:32 pm
agree with u kartik….in fact just browsed the net today…to see if any anti-arnab fans are there….and pleased to find many….
pacman
November 28, 2008 at 7:34 pm
This what I wrote to Mr. Goswami.
Dear Mr. Arnab Goswami,
I would firstly like to applaud your acting skills. Congratulations!!
Why didnt you shun the politicians when similar attacks had happened in Mumbai Local trains , crowded market places and all those places where you and your wife and children never visit. You visit those places ( or probably some of your juniors)only when the blast has happened.
All of sudden there is sudden spasm of patriotism amongst some of the most high profiled Journalists because it is TAJ and OBEROI NOW? Because today you feel that your lives are in danger and you could die a similar death like a common man!Because you family and you rejoice in those hotels, shun these politicians on TV and then party with them in these places!!
What are you doing for society!Isnt Media responsible for all this mess? Why do you show politicians who rake up controversies for publicity? Why you didnt shun them then ? All of a sudden how come you have become responsible?
If you have little conscience then stand up and apologise for your past and then take on the responsibility of saving India and all that patriotism. Dont blame anyone but yourself for the mess.
Shame on you Mr. Goswami for behaving irresponsible and exploiting TV , a very powerful medium which could have been put to a good use.
Regards
Shefali
shefali
November 29, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Couldn’t agree more with you, Kartik! I just couldn’t contain my seething anger at these news anchors after the Mumbai attack, and had to vent it out on my blog finally.
They need to know the difference between being aggressive and being assertive…
Pushkaraj
December 1, 2008 at 1:35 am
Got to this site by chance but spent my time reading Karthik’s Arnab bashing and the seconding and thirding by many. My thoughts are as below. Leave the interruption alone and ask which channel conducted itself better during last weeks mayhem? Who presented the face of a unified India by bringing in people who spoke substance and confronted Pakistanis on air? Who continued the anti-BJP stance on TV during a “national-calamity”, and tried her best to incite a BJP spokesman on despite his requests to her to not get into such a mode?
The point is, please see as to who is acting responsible and who is not, and not to judge as to who is a better journo on flimsy grounds! All you Barkha Dutt and Sagarika Ghose fans, God bless you!!!
Deepak
December 3, 2008 at 6:53 pm
perhaps the only undisputed leader in tv news is CNN…theres no questioning that……they have the kind of ease and flow when their reporting that doesnt make it look like they have a gun pointed at their backsides
Aspy
December 4, 2008 at 5:26 pm
i so totally agree with shefali
Aspy
December 4, 2008 at 5:30 pm
After the terrorist blasts happened in Mumbai, perhaps the only thing that was almost as appalling as the act, was one man.. Arnab Goswami.
I would generally choose not to comment on people, since it’s a rather subjective matter. But, for once, I’ve felt so strongly that I chose not to ignore it. Arnab Goswami, Editor-In-Chief of Times Now is a pathetic loser. If one cannot be unbiased while being a journalist/ Tv anchor, what’s the point? Your job is to deliver the news as it is, not with your own views and prejudices.
Neeti
December 6, 2008 at 8:09 pm
arnab is the best…no doubt in it…..
dinesh
December 11, 2008 at 12:22 am
dude lemme make one thing very clear.your opinions n views on arnab suck.allright now u have this blog of yours which obviously is subjective and needs to be so bt talking crap abt a senior journalist like arnab and that too with soo much of confidence is really not acceptable atleast like me.he is what we call a true journalist,atleast he is nt like your barkha dutt who is more of a biased journalist n usually favours the congress(thats why she even gt the padmashri u see),he speaks his own mind,he speaks with aggression n that what a journalist should be,aggressive ,stubborn,ready to listen i agree bt not at the behest of letting any tom,dick and harry speak crap.arnab is a go getter,a strong personality and an honest journalist.during the mumbai attack coverage he asked one direct question to this minister i dont remeber that “what is the name of the country involved in these terrorist attacks”n he kept asking that till he gt the word pakistan out.now thats what we call a fearless journalist.got it mr ‘i noe much more than einstein”.bt go ahead n talk crap abt a gud journalist and glorify the rest of the losers.thats what most of the people do tdy n glad to see that u r no diff.chao.
juhi
December 11, 2008 at 10:23 am
Just read Arundhati Roy’s article in Outlook. Was appalled to read about him saying “You are disgusting” on live television. Somehow I had missed that bit earlier. Its utterly outrageous; this pathetic excuse for a TV show host, has the gall to label someone as “disgusting” on live TV, when the other person is not even around to defend themselves. Its the pits ! Utter misuse of the privilege of being on TV. Its unbelievable that such windbags can go on air night after night …Pathetic!
S Iyengar
December 13, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Have to add, that I so completely agree with Neeti and Shefali above. And also: As awful as Arnab’s performance is, there is hardly anyone out there in the mainstream media who can claim to be even slightly better.
And why for pete’s sake are they all so loud and shrill ????? Cant listen to these people without ear-plugs !!
S Iyengar
December 13, 2008 at 6:51 pm
He is a fool and a maha idiot, to question the great patriotism of such a great woman arundhiti roy who has the guts to say the truth in a nation which is today full of hysterical people due to biased reporting by the media.
mohan
December 21, 2008 at 6:44 am
*shudders thinking of Rajdeep and Sagarika’s household* Must have warning sign outside, near doorbell: “Please put on ear muffs NOW!”
I love this post and Karhtik’s original. (Sir Karthink, my comment on your blog is as yet unmoderated. Why for?)
To all Arnab & Co. fans: Why for?
What fun.
Sabbah Haji
March 5, 2009 at 8:55 pm
*my comment on your earlier post*
Sabbah Haji
March 5, 2009 at 10:03 pm