Arnab Goswami is not a journalist. He is a PR agent, a propagandist. If one may look at his news reporting style, one may realise that he often yells his points, gaslight others, and try to shut them up by shouting at top of his voice. Often, people mock his yelling but there is something that we need to realise- this is not how journalism works.
Four years ago, Umar Khalid was “interviewed” by Arnab on live TV. One may notice in the video easily that he started shouting and making Umar shut up. Words like “tukde tukde gang” has been popularized by these journalists who doesn’t let the other side speak.
It is not Journalism, It is Slander and Propaganda
One may look at the TV news reporting and then try to understand the way it influences people. If 9 out of 10 TV channels will show the same news, in the same manner, it will become a fact in the minds of the people. In the past few years, news has been used to manipulate voters, spread political agendas, and to create tensions and rhetorics which are favorable for certain political ideologies.
Often, it leads to violence, brainwashing at the mass level, and creates a sense of hatred among the people. In order to have fraternity, this needs to be stopped. The purpose of journalism is to provide information, not propaganda. If the news is shown in a manipulated manner, people tend to form an opinion through that manipulation. Often the issues are trivialized or desensitized to such an extent that serious issues become a non-issue in the minds of common people.
Often news websites and channels are being colored in political colors and it harms people. Even if these sites will be reporting the facts, they will be deemed as “political” because most of the mainstream media choose to report news a certain way. In recent years, news has led to many attacks on people, and political uproar harming peace in society. Journalism’s job is to give people a voice, make those in power accountable instead, the current mainstream channels choose to propagate certain ideas leading to a lack of accountability. The whole “anti-national” fiasco created unnecessary division among the minds of the people by defaming many students and a university as a whole.
Often narratives are played on for months to divert people’s attention from real issues and it is lethal for a democracy to have journalism being used as a tool of propaganda. Arnab has been arrested for abetting suicide but that is not the only crime he has commit over years. Many people like him have ruined the lives of the people.
How journalism could help society
With new online portals popping up, the urban elite still gets more access to factual information than the rural, urban low-income household whose major source of news is either printed newspapers, radio, or television. It is the responsibility of the journalism fraternity to make sure that verified, factually correct news that is free from any political propaganda should reach people.
Along with that, people should be empowered by the media instead of being manipulated and used for petty political agenda. Many journalists like Rupesh Kumar Singh and Prashant Kanojia has been arrested in the recent past for expressing their views, the question arises… why ministers and people of a certain ideology are crying for Arnab now? Was he working for them?
