Indian TV channels claiming to be in the news business have often earned notoriety for pushing the ruling party’s agenda. Notable among them are Times Now and Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV. Aside from being perceived as the flag-bearers of the ruling party, these two channels have also come under the scanner for pushing fake news in a bid to discredit the opposition parties.
Both Times Now and Republic TV recently faced considerable anger after they claimed that Congress President Rahul Gandhi was likely to contest from three parliamentary seats. This, they said, was because of the fear that Gandhi may not be able to win from his traditional Amethi seat. The news, as established by Janta Ka Reporter, was fake since a candidate is only allowed to contest from a maximum of two seats.
The two channels have also been notorious for hosting noisy debates in the evening. While Goswami has stood out as a villain in Republic TV, his former Times Now colleague Navika Kumar has found herself at the receiving end for such bad practices involving her channel.
On Friday, Bollywood actress Soni Razdan, also the mother of Alia Bhatt, too joined the debate on the falling standards of channels like Times Now. It started with producer Vinta Nanda reminding Navika that creating ruckus during TV debates wasn’t going to solve the BJP’s problem. She wrote, “It’s about time @navikakumar and co at @TimesNow understand that having people on panels who yell and become uselessly aggressive doesn’t solve @BJP4India’s problems. People waited for promises to be delivered and are disappointed. Now what?!!!”
It’s about time @navikakumar and co at @TimesNow understand that having people on panels who yell and become uselessly aggressive doesn’t solve @BJP4India’s problems. People waited for promises to be delivered and are disappointed. Now what?!!!
— Vinta Nanda (@vintananda) January 24, 2019
Responding to Nanda’s tweet, Razdan commented, “I wonder if they (Navika Kumar and company) realise many people have switched to other channels long ago. Who wants to watch people yelling over each other anyway … impossible to understand a debate in such a manner.”
I wonder if they realise many people have switched to other channels long ago. Who wants to watch people yelling over each other anyway … impossible to understand a debate in such a manner
— Soni Razdan (@Soni_Razdan) January 25, 2019
Razdan’s response clearly revealed that she did not watch channels like Times Now and Republic. Hope this revelation prompts the people managing channels such as Times Now and Republic to add the much-needed media ethics in their newsgathering exercises.