Controversial Indian TV anchor back with new channel

Arnab Goswami

MUMBAI: India’s most brash and controversial TV news anchor Arnab Goswami, renowned for his hectoring style, is about to launch a new channel and he is unapologetic about what viewers should expect.
“I’m patriotic and nationalistic and so will the channel be,” the 43-year-old told AFP in a mellow tone drastically different from his manner on-screen where he regularly shouts at guests.
Goswami — known simply in India as “Arnab,” such is his celebrity status — will launch “Republic TV” within the next fortnight, six months after quitting Times Now where he hosted a nightly news show.
The journalist is adored by many Indians for his jingoistic, anti-Pakistan views but is equally loathed by others, often on the left, who accuse him of noisily trumpeting a right-wing agenda.
Commentators also criticize him for promoting a biased approach to covering news, but Goswami is unrepentant, rejecting any notion that journalists’ reporting should be balanced and impartial.
“When a Pakistani terrorist group kills my soldier, I shall not try to look at it through this distilled lens of objectivity and say I must understand the perspective of the militant terrorist and call him a militant or a gunman,” he said.
“I would say he was a terrorist and he has killed my country’s soldier. If that violates a few rules of journalism then I would like to violate a few more rules of journalism. I don’t believe in this fake objectivity. I’m an Indian and I will be on the side of India.”
Goswami has big plans for his new venture. He is confident of defeating what he calls the “Indian media cabal operating out of Delhi.” Then he will set his sights on media giants in the West.
“I believe that the hegemony of the Western media has to end,” said Goswami.