I/II. http://www.newslaundry.com/2016/07/29/why-i-can-no-longer-laugh-at-arnab-goswami/#
Why I can no longer laugh at Arnab Goswami >From being a joke to an establishment Rottweiler -- the Newshour anchor has come a long way Posted by Mihir S Sharma | Jul 29, 2016 When does a joke stop being funny? Arnab Goswami has always been something of a joke. For Anglophone India, its highest-rated newsman has always been entertainment – less a real person, more a parcel of self-righteous hot air trapped inside an awful suit. When he comes up in conversation, we roll our eyes. “Too much shouting,” we say smugly, or “too many guests”. We speculate on whether he gets tired of playing the part of a sanctimonious scold, and make jokes about the “voice of the Nation”. Sure, he’s powerful – but he’s also a joke. At some point in the recent past, the joke stopped being amusing. This week, Goswami set the Internet and the airwaves afire with a four-minute rant about Pakistani agents in the Indian media. “Pseudo-liberals”, he declared, “should ask themselves whether they have a right to comment, to speak or to write one word on the Kargil bravehearts…” This is a typical Goswami question: it has only one answer. Also typically, the correct answer isn’t the one that Goswami wants us to imagine it is. (The correct answer is: Yes, anyone has the right to speak or write any number of words about anything. Goswami’s answer appears to be: No, my fellow journalists have no right to speak or write one word on Kargil, unless they first pay obeisance at this little shrine to bottomless hate I’ve set up, and to which I sell tickets every evening at 9 o’clock.) “Vested interests”, continued Goswami, “in some parts of the media have been openly and shockingly trying to echo the Pakistani line. In the guise of backing Kashmiris, these sections – including sections of the media – are doing everything possible to support Pakistan, sitting here in India… Directly or indirectly, they are supporting the ISI, supporting Rawalpindi, they are supporting Hafiz Saeed.” Helpfully, Times Now at this point flashed a video of Hafiz Saeed looking villainous, and even more helpfully circled the terrorist mastermind – I’m not sure why Saeed is on the Newshour so much he practically co-stars with Goswami, as if it’s some sort of dystopian odd-couple sitcom. The problems with Goswami’s logical inference in the previous paragraph are many. The first, and perhaps most important, is that it makes so little sense that it would actively make his listeners stupider if they tried to follow it. Fortunately, comprehension is not the point of the Newshour. The point is this: to hear Goswami shout impressively, and to hear him try to get “liberals”, “support” and “Hafiz Saeed” into the same sentence. There is, after all, no reason whatsoever to suppose that “supporting the Kashmiris”, by for example “asking whether Kashmir police needs to use crippling pellet guns on protestors armed with stones”, is “directly or indirectly supporting Hafiz Saeed”. Were one in possession of a brain cell or two, one could easily note that supporting Hafiz Saeed involves signing up to Sharia law, global jihad, the destruction of India, the murder of innocents, and untrimmed beards; and that these issues are of a slightly different nature from discussions about crowd control methods. After all, if we were to take Goswami and his argument seriously for even a second, we would be forced to conclude that he is even worse than the “pseudo-liberals”: he would be a supporter of ISIS, doing the bidding of al-Baghdadi. The reasoning is, as Goswami would no doubt shout at you, simple. A few days earlier, Newshour had done a story about beef violence; Goswami disapproved of it. But demonstrations have been held in Kashmir about beef bans. Clearly, therefore Goswami is, in the guise of discussing beef, backing Kashmiris. Further, the participants in one such demonstration reportedly waved ISIS flags. Thus, directly or indirectly, Goswami is implementing ISIS’ agenda in India, and supporting Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (insert video of crazy Iraqi jihadist here). Frankly, the only fix for this conundrum would be for Arnab Goswami to viciously and volubly attack Arnab Goswami for being a traitor, and to declare that Arnab Goswami had no right to comment on patriots like Arnab Goswami since Arnab Goswami continued to do ISIS’ bidding. Now that is an episode of the Newshour I would watch with considerable enjoyment, and it would be only marginally less confusing than most other episodes. In his glorious little rant, Goswami went on to say: “You have heard this group, pro-Pakistan activists operating out of India carrying an Indian passport, some of them posing as some kind of journalist, starting to drum up a campaign orchestrated and planned across the border for azadi in Kashmir. They are writing articles, they’re giving interviews, unstopped.” Now, this is brilliantly argued. You see, Goswami first tells you: “You have heard this group, pro-Pakistan activists…” What he does here is turn the act of hearing some set of people express their opinions into proof that those opinions are “orchestrated and planned across the border”. It is a rhetorical device of considerable ingenuity, made only somewhat less impressive by the fact that Goswami employs it almost nightly. Note also that word “unstopped”. In the video, Goswami endows it with awesome weight. “Unstopped” is a call to arms for all patriotic beard-hating Indians. In effect, it asks of these fine men – they are men, trust me, regardless of the photos they use on their Twitter accounts – Why are Pakistani agents still speaking in our country? Are you not a man? Why have you done nothing to stop them? Goswami’s defenders claim that he has not called for anyone to be silenced; these people clearly do not understand the meaning of the word “stop”. Goswami went on to urge his viewers to not let this pro-Pakistan lobby “get away” because they “compromise our national security”. Again, I’m not sure what he means by “get away”. Get away un-sued? Un-imprisoned? Un-trolled on Twitter? Or unharmed? Like all demagogues from Caesar to Trump, Goswami likes to allow his mob to decide on its preferred form of “direct action” on its own. It is only fair; this is after all a free country. I was struck, watching this video, by how far Goswami has come. When I used to watch his show regularly, as a television critic back when Anna Hazare was a thing, he was not quite as puffed up in self-consequence as he was in this video. He did not stray quite so far from logic and common-sense; he did not shout with so much confidence – or with such sudden stridence, in his very first question. Indeed, I do not remember this speaking-to-camera editorial style at all. In the years since that heady summer of fasts, Goswami has gained immensely in power, and knows it. That power, however, has come at a price. During the hapless UPA’s frustrating last years, Goswami’s tirades of righteous indignation against government policy were at least entertaining to watch. They consisted of more than the two-minute hate repeated 60 times that they have now become. The targets were many and various. The Newshour today is a different beast altogether. Just looking at the programmes scheduled since Goswami’s obsequious recent interview of the prime minister tells the story; critical appraisal of government policy or personnel is now absent. In barely a couple does the ruling party come in for a bit of stick; usually because it is not being aggressive enough, for example, on Robert Vadra. Most of the time, the villain is Pakistan. Having become an institution, Goswami has to protect his turf – and he does so by playing it safe. He has become the pet bully of the establishment. When responding to criticism of his laughably soft-focus interview of the prime minister, Goswami pointed out that he had been similarly soft on Rahul Gandhi. This is perhaps true. Certainly, it was true of his famous interview of Raj Thackeray. True or not, it is certainly revealing: in the presence of real power, the thundering lion of the Newshour is a polite little kitten. Let us not judge this choice. Nobody knows the constraints he labours under; perhaps he does not want to risk his channel and his position by keeping up the tough-guy act in front of people who might actually be able to do something to push back. Last December, the journalist-turned-politician Ashish Khetan told Goswami that “with a 5-crore salary, you can’t debate about Arun Jaitley”. Khetan needn’t worry; if his crazy bunch of populist amateurs ever get anywhere near real power, Goswami might well be as friendly with him as he is accused of being with Jaitley. All I ask is that he stop pretending to be an intrepid, independent journalist. There is space in today’s India for a master of hate, for an establishment Rottweiler, and Goswami fills that space admirably. He should be proud how competently he carries out his real role. A role that involves being supine in front of people more powerful than he is, and a vicious bully to those lower down on the ladder. Yet, sometime in the past year or so, Goswami’s bully act has turned into something even darker. I think I know when: the moment he cut off a JNU student’s volume the better to hector and threaten him, turning a rebellious kid into the object of nationwide hate. He put the boy in real danger, from state and non-state violence. Journalists are supposed to hold power to account, not take advantage of powerlessness. Worse, perhaps, he betrayed a complete lack of empathy; and a journalist without empathy is nothing, an empty suit, no matter how loud he may be. Goswami’s accusation that his fellow-journalists are agents of the Enemy is simply a marker of this transition. He was dangerous earlier only because he introduced a corrosive stupidity and divisiveness into the national discourse. He is infinitely more dangerous today, when he openly calls for silencing other voices, cutting off their metaphorical mics, leaving his voice alone and uncontested as the representative of the national interest. II. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160731/jsp/opinion/story_99712.jsp#.V510Erh9600 An engine of cowardice - Arnab Goswami's treachery towards the Indian Constitution The Thin Edge - Ruchir Joshi Let me explain Arnab Goswami to you. Or, rather, since I'm not Arnab Goswami, please allow me to place before you how I see Arnab Goswami of Times Now TV. Actually, first let me explain why any time at all should be spent on someone like Goswami. If, like me, you accept that India is exceptional among our immediate neighbours, that despite its many ongoing tragedies it's a better country to live in than, say, Pakistan or Myanmar, then you also have to say why this is so. In this, I would list our Constitution, which guarantees secularism and free speech at its core, as the first crucial thing that differentiates us from our neighbours. Preceding the Constitution, but bolstered and protected by it, is a tradition of a free press that is unique in South Asia. This press may fluctuate from time to time between being more or less free, being pushed around by the governments or large bits of it bought out by business interests, but the tradition the best practitioners of Indian journalism uphold is one of loudly and clearly saying uncomfortable and even unsayable things to the people in power. Now, it's one thing for a minister to demand the gagging of the press, one thing if some oligarchic business house tries to squash a book, but it's quite another if a prominent news anchor demands the arrest of fellow journalists on the grounds that they are 'anti-national'. This is what Arnab Goswami is doing right now, and it constitutes the worst, slimy, jingoistic, profit-seeking attack on democracy, the free press, the Indian Constitution and, therefore, on the Indian Republic itself. Wherefore the questions come up: who is this rich and powerful traitor in our midst? And how are we to understand him and his motives? Most of us have suffered school bullies. The bully is that boy, perhaps physically a bit bigger than others, who uses all means at his command to control smaller students and push them around. If he can, the bully will beat you up when the teachers aren't looking; if he needs to, the bully will start a campaign against some other kid, to cow him down and make him miserable; when faced with authority the bully will not hesitate to use outright lies; if the bully is met with physical resistance, paid back in his own coin, so to speak, he will also not hesitate to run to the teachers and tearfully complain that he has been beaten up, no matter that it was he who started the fight. There may be some differences in the modus operandi but this kind of bully is to be found among both girls and boys. The bully may not necessarily have physical heft but, invariably, she or he will have the will and stamina to cause unprovoked harm, and invariably he or she will follow only one mantra: me, myself and I above everyone else - me always - right or wrong, I must be the one who prevails - by whatever means, fair or foul. Sometimes these bullies grow up and modulate their characters, but all too often they carry this bullying nature into adulthood, assuming it will continue to reward them with power and success. Far too often, they are not disappointed. These bullies appear in society, in every walk of life. Upon the evidence of his TV show, Arnab Goswami is a classic example of just such a bully. In fact, the next time you watch his show, try doing a mental exercise: take this man out of his suit and put him in various different costumes and situations - the local boys' club secretary who leads the gang aggressively demanding puja contributions, the one standing behind a gang of thugs who eggs them to get violent in any altercation, the cop who beats up a defenceless riksha-walla or a thela-walla, the Chief Minister's or the Prime Minister's political Rottweiler, who does the savaging on behalf of his fakely dignified master, the corrupt magistrate who thunders down a sentence on the victims of a crime while letting free the perpetrators, the semi-suave high society gentleman who turns ugly at the drop of a hat, the rich man in an SUV who hits an auto-riksha and then gets out and beats up the auto-walla, claiming damage to his fancy car. See if you can recognize Arnab Goswami in these men and vice versa. In case you feel this is an ad hominem attack, that this is a personal takedown of the man rather than the issue, I would simply point out that the public persona Goswami has assiduously created for himself, his self-righteousness, his loud, spitting, hectoring style on national television, is at the core of the issue. It doesn't matter what 'politics' Goswami espouses; the issue would be the same - and his behaviour equally odious - if he was a Stalinist bully, say nominally of the 'Left', demanding a lynch mob to string up people he deemed 'counter-revolutionaries'. As with all bullies, what drives Goswami is an engine of huge cowardice. This is plainly in evidence in the way the man conducts his TV show. The first fear (and one with which he has sadly infected several competitors) is of losing TRPs. Goswami and Times Now have to know what they are doing is poisonous for the intellectual environment of the country they claim to love so much; yet they are bound to ride the monster they have created, they cannot afford to change tack even in the face of proof that they have been caught out as liars, as news fabricators, and for providing provocation for the worst tendencies in a fast-changing, young society. The construction of the monster goes like this: 1. find a news item or an issue that can magnet high emotion from the viewer, 2. define the headline in the most dishonest and dumbed-down terms, 3. pass a verdict on it even before a word has been spoken in the 'debate', 4. find scapegoats on the wrong side of the 'verdict' and bash the living daylights out of them, giving the viewer the satisfaction of having participated in a virtual blood sport. In this, the enemies of the profit-project are people who articulately challenge Goswami's pre-trial verdict and, equally bad, the ones who try and bring some complexity and nuance into a discussion. So, Goswami's cowardice is in evidence from the very start of his show - if you're against what he is proclaiming that evening, He. Will. Not. Let. You. Speak. Period. Cheap trick #1: Goswami will speak long and loud in a preamble and then grandly say, 'The debate is now open! Answer the question!' As soon as the hapless victim opens their mouth to answer, Goswami will (often using the sound delay between cities) jump in and stomp on the poor sap, Cheap Trick #2: Someone will get half a reply out, with the main point still to come, when, again, they will be ambushed by brutal interruption, Cheap Trick #3: these maulings will force the victim to reply in sound bites, not something everyone is good at, and AG will claw some de-contextualized phrase out of the answer and repeatedly punch the 'guest' with it, Cheap Trick #4: If your English happens to be ever so slightly shaky, Goswami will jump on that like a tiger on a tied goat (his own English, it should be mentioned, is atrocious - a few pompous phrases that he repeats incessantly, in the grotesquely mutated psuedo-Shakespearean delivery he must have learnt in school). Again, all of this is a problem because what India needs desperately is tough journalists asking straight questions of the people in power. Goswami's barrage not only obfuscates that need but also creates an environment in which such questioning becomes almost impossible. In comparison, let's just take two examples of how Boris Johnson caught it from the press over the last month or so. The first was the American journalist who asked two knock-out questions during Johnson's press conference with John Kerry: the questions were politely put yet pulled no punches - as Foreign Minister, what will you say to such and such world leaders about whom you've previously written this and this? Standing next to Johnson, Kerry visibly blanches; Johnson (plenty of time to answer, long rope) squirms from foot to foot, talking panicky nonsense in reply. Middle stump uprooted. Point made. Second, senior British TV journalist Andrew Marr eviscerates Johnson in a one-on-one interview about Boris once encouraging a man to beat somebody up. The long question ends with the words, 'You're quite a nasty piece of work aren't you?' But, again, it's done quietly, with plenty of room for Johnson to answer, or not, or squirm (Johnson fudges and squirms). Both the interrogations work precisely because there is never any feeling that anyone is shouting down Johnson, or denying him space to speak. Now, the thing is, there is no reason why in India we cannot subject both so called 'anti-nationals' and self-proclaimed 'gau-rakshaks' to this kind of public questioning. As a sophisticated people, we totally get pauses and nuance and telling silences, it's just that for someone like Arnab Goswami, giving space to nuance and contradiction is not profitable - he and his marketing crew need to bulldoze that sort of thing because it would destroy their monster model. Far better for Goswami to be a fawning mouse when faced with Narendra Modi and far better for him to swallow serious questions about the well-being of his supposedly beloved Indian military (What about the fiasco of Modi's impromptu Rafale deal with France? Why are ancient, now dangerous, Ukrainian aircraft still the workhorses of the IAF? Why was the Mountain Strike Corps 'shrunk' by this government after having been 15 years in the planning?). Why is the Patriot Missile Arnab Goswami missing in action on asking these questions of the government? It may be totally cowardly, and totally perfidious to the spirit of our Constitution, but in these times, it's far safer to attack fellow journalists for asking sensible questions about when the AFSPA might be lifted from Kashmir and the Northeast, and about why - no matter what Burhan Wani's crimes were - are so many Kahsmiri youth out on the streets risking their lives after Wani's death? -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. 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