Why Arnab is a loss for Indian Media
As a self-confessed moderate conservative, I must say I have hated Arnab Goswami’s coverage on more occasions than I have liked. His sense of nationalism is offensive. His understanding of Kashmir is abysmal. The depth of his arguments on international relations is embarrassing. His show’s obsession with Twitter is unhealthy. And his judgment of one and all is deleterious to his viewers’ informed political opinion. He has been less of a journalist and more of an ideological behemoth desperate to stamp his thought on every other alternate thought. Singularity has defined Arnab. And Arnab has redefined singularity.
I can only imagine how that might have rankled, to put it mildly, the liberals of India. So I am sure there will be a section of elites who’d breathe easy for a while, before Arnab comes back (if the reports of his resignation are true). And come back, he will. But the sort of comeback he makes will have a huge effect on the media, the politics, and the society of this country. It’s a little concerning that a single person may hold that sway, but there is a reason why a free media is such a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. But all of that is in the future and what Arnab decides to do with his future. My immediate concerns pertain to what might become of the massive space that Arnab vacates right now.
Times Now is seeing the retirement of a Sachin without the comfort of a Virat in their line up. To extend that analogy, what makes Virat special is that he is his own man. Arnab on the other hand, has cast a long shadow. Other journalists who have filled in for him from time to time, have merely tried to copy his style and have never presented a new style. In other words, they have not been their own men/women. And that’s why, even as a viewer with little appreciation for Arnab’s ideology, I am not sure if him leaving Times Now is a good thing.
Arnab provided a balance to a largely liberal English media in India. And as has been the trend, unfortunately so, it’s the English media that has controlled the agenda — from controversies to policy debates. It says a lot about the state of Hindi media in the country that Aaj Tak, India’s premier Hindi news channel, has to borrow Rajdeep Sardesai, a hitherto English mediaperson, to cover it’s news and debates. But a subtler dynamic lies in how conservative the Hindi media is. That tells us a story about how largely conservative large sections of Indian society is which clues in on those news channels every night.
While Arnab was at the helm, he drove the conservative thought and reveled in all the attention he attracted. That prevented Zee News and the like to be the thought makers. Of course people still watched those channels, but the overwhelming voice of conservatism was that of Arnab — a voice that was any day more refined and informed than any of the coverage of some of the Hindi news channels. And that provided a nice balance, even though most moderates in India (including me) worried about how increasingly divisive the Indian nation was becoming.
But with Arnab gone, this plays out in two ways. The first immediate impact will be on mainstream English media which is likely to play its tug of war between the center and the left as opposed to the right and the left. And that cannot always be a comforting thought because as smart as liberals think they are, some of their policy ideas have defied logic and led the country backwards. The other major effect that I foresee is a shift from Times Now to the conservative Hindi channels. That shift is likely to be subtle and may not affect TRPs as much as it would affect who replaces Arnab as the new thought driver among the conservatives in India. Arnab’s nationalism and his singularity were nauseating at times, but he would never fail to stand up for women’s rights or against corruption. But with him gone, various news channels may serve baseless nonsense, as they are prone to, to the people of India. This will further widen the divide between the English news channel audience and the Hindi news channel audience.
The political ramifications could be huge. Politicians, while having to maintain the decency that the English media demands, will also be required to an increasingly resentful base of voters wanting their politicians to tow the conservative line. It seems far-fetched that a simple resignation by a TV anchor could trigger such a slide. But in the world of social media with an increasingly misinformed public quick to arrive at conclusions, it’s a real possibility that the current divide apparent in the Indian polity could only worsen. That is nothing but a pointer to how important the media is today. And how important Arnab has been to Indian media for the last ten years.
