Dear Arnab,
I started following your news back in 2010-11 when there was a lot of uproar about corruption in the then Government and a lot of activism about the Lokpal Bill. Your news channel used to be my go-to channel for getting real news instead of made-up stories that other news channels would show. That was what I would call hard-hitting journalism.
In school, I was a debater and public speaker myself and my teacher always told me to watch your news debates and try to incorporate your style into my public speaking. But over the years, I’m sorry to say, your journalism has degraded and has reached a point which is probably the lowest ever possible.
Just a couple of days back, I happened to catch one of you primetime debates on your current channel and just when I thought I couldn’t be more disappointed by you, there you were on the TV screen taking 10 attempts to finish your lines and not letting your panellists speak.
You, sir, have become a person who is full of himself, who thinks that everyone else is dumb and you are the only person who is right about everything. You have two different sets of panellists at your show, one for the motion and one against. What’s odd is the fact that you never let the panellists against the motion speak up. You ask them a question and fall into a fit of either repeating the question on and on or saying things like “Answer my question” or “I can’t hear you” repeatedly while these panellists are perfectly audible and trying to answer your question. When it comes to the panellists in favour of the motion or should I say whose point of view matches with yours, you just sit there calmly letting them speak.
And it’s not that I have noticed this happening once, this happens every night on your show, on and on and on, you only let those people speak who are in your favour. For everyone else who’s not, you just don’t let them speak.
It seems that fame and money are all that matter to you because you are showing anything but news on your channel. It is more noise than news. It feels more like Arnab wants to know rather than the nation wants to know.
Where is that guy who stood for the truth, who stood for covering real news and stories that actually matter? Why is this corporate clone overpowering the real journalist Arnab Goswami was about 7-8 years back?
As a kid, I used to look up to you and even wanted to take up journalism. But I’m glad I didn’t because you’re no longer the person I used to look up to.
Regards,
A Disappointed Viewer