Arnab Goswami, India's preacher-in-chief, quits Times Now: Nation wants to know why

[Kool_SRG]

Of all the 'national' icons Indian television media has created since 1990s — Prannoy Roy, Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami is a giant. As Arnab resigns from Times Now, his colleagues, viewers and competitors will remember him as the man who changed the destiny of newsroom debates.

Arnab changed the newsroom to a high decibel ‘warzone’ and replaced discussions with hysterical trances filled with ‘jingoism’ and ‘nationalism’. Arnab appointed himself as the guardian of India’s nationalist cause and became patriotism-personified for most Indian households and the destroyer of ‘anti-nationals’ of all religion and colour. Most of Arnab's programmes and talk shows were mindgames. Arnab changed his tone only on very rare occasions, one of them being his famed interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Twitterati had described the show as if they were "watching a date."

 

One thing is for sure though — all those unlucky politicians and Pakistan diplomats who, for years, experienced a version of hell at the 9’o clock NewsHour on Times Now by way of constant personal insults and the feeling of long voiceless moments for not sharing Arnab's views, are now heaving a long sigh of relief. However, no matter what his critics say, Arnab has carved an iconic status for himself when it comes to news broadcast space. Even those who dislike his debates have secretly made themselves available in front of their living room television sets to enjoy the high-decibel show that has been free supplier of adrenalin rush rather than the essence of news.

Arnab is a byproduct of a fiercely competitive commercial television space. The television culture Arnab has designed and nurtured (and others have followed), focuses on everything other than the true essence of discussion. One needs to train their ears and eyes hard to identify anything other than Arnab's voice. In that destined ‘hour’, only those in full agreement with the master stand a tiny chance to make use of their vocal chords, while the rest are temporarily reduced to a comatose state.

But, more than Arnab's abrupt exit, the manner in which the celebrity news anchor called it quits after a decade in Times Now newsroom is interesting. Arnab has been off-air for a few days and on Monday night the channel, probably suffering losses at the TRP box office, started reassuring NewHour junkie that they would get their daily fix from the next day. "Arnab will be back tomorrow night" said the news flash. This indicates that till Monday night, no one really knew about Goswami's impending jump from the newsroom. Did something happen between Monday night and Tuesday that saw his dramatic departure? Or was Monday night's news flashes followed by the Tuesday's newsbreak of his resignation designed to ensure unprecedented eye-balls for a Super Super Prime Time on Tuesday?

When Goswami finally called it a day from the Times Now newsroom — and no matter what he does next — he will leave behind a legacy that has no parallels in the history of Indian television yet. Newshour just cannot be the same without Arnab Goswami just as it is possible that Arnab Goswami may not be the same without the Newshour. That, only time will tell. But the one thing the 'Nation Wants to know tonight' is what triggered his exit.

[lazybugger]

No. They are just happy that he finally quit.

 

[Kool_SRG]

Arnab Goswami parts ways with Times Network

The speculation is that Goswami may start an independent news venture, TV or digital

 

Arnab Goswami, TV anchor and president-news and editor-in-chief, Times Now and ET Now is moving on from the Times Network, reveal sources in the know. While his next project is not confirmed, speculation is that Goswami may start an independent news venture, TV or digital. 

 

Goswami started his career with The Telegraph, where he worked for a little under a year between 1994 and 1995 before joining Pranay Roy’s New Delhi Television (NDTV) as a reporter and anchor. He rose through the ranks at NDTV, becoming a part of the core team as a news editor, helming the show Newshour from 1998 to 2003. Later, he became the senior editor at NDTV and continued working in that capacity till he left the network to join Time Now in 2006.

 

At Times Now, he shot to fame with his firebrand anchoring on the Newshour, which went a long way in pushing the channel to the number one position, which it continues to hold till date. According the Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC) Times Now is the top rated English News channel in the country by a massive margin. The Goswami led channel clocked 6,32,000 impressions in week 42 of 2016 (October 15 to October 21) while its closest competitor CNN News18 clocked 2,89,000 impressions in the same week. (Impressions refers to the total number of views a show gets during its telecast).

 

 

The leadership position enjoyed by Times Now also reflected in the ad sales might it could muster. On an average, English news channels enjoy a peak ad-rate (for a 10 second spot) of around Rs 3,000 during normal weekdays (prime time). Industry estimates peg Times Now’s prime time ad-rate at around Rs 20,000. This could increase in case of an important development or during election time. The show went a long way in making Times Now a money churning asset within the Time Network, contributing 70% of the channel’s total ad-revenue. 

 

Given his success with Times Now, Goswami was elevated to president-news & editor-in-chief, Times Now and ET Now, from editorial director and editor in chief, Times Now in June 2015, which he shall continue to hold till date. There is no word yet on who will replace him at the network.

[Luke]