ArpitGarg's Weblog

I have been open about my views on Arnab Goswami. I hate his over the top approach which is driven by TRP’s rather than ideology. That he has taken yellow journalism to its darkest shade is something which I don’t like. But what I admire about him is he is not biased and caged by his political leanings. For him TRP’s come first, rest all is second. Hence he remains equally harsh on all political parties and leaders, unlike other well known journalists who are shamelessly biased towards Congress or BJP or Left.

I believed he was journalist in an English News Channel, which has limited audience in India and hence does not represent the popular view. For me he represented the view which urban elites liked to hear and hence provide TRP’s. Well let me admit I was right and I was wrong. I was right in saying he has urban elites as his audience, but what I failed to grasp was, these very people are the ones that define policies. His audience comprises of top notch of society. Judges, Doctors, Engineers, Teachers. His audience comprises of influential people, who lead the society.

When I say Arnab has a small audience, I mean in number as compared to 130 cr population. In comparison to other English News channels, his audience is obviously more.

Couple of incidents happened that made me realize the import of what Arnab and his audience represents. A judge recently appointed a lawyer to a case after he saw that lawyer in a Panel discussion on Newshour. How I came to know was, that same lawyer thanked Arnab for inviting him and getting him noticed. He did that on live TV during a subsequent discussion.

The next major thing was Narendra Modi interview. That an astute politician like Modi decided to give his first Indian interview as PM to Arnab speaks volumes of the strength of Arnab’s audience. The audience which is less in number but lists the Who’s who of Indian society. Arnab is right when he says he sets Nations News Agenda on Newshour. Everyone else just plays catch up.

For most elites of Mumbai/Delhi, news is what happens 9-11 PM on TimesNow. Arnab is the pied piper of urban India.