Just a few days back, in his customary fashion of being loud and over the top, Arnab Goswami launched a monologue against a set of “pseudo-liberals”. He did not name anyone, but asked questions of those “who have been trying to echo the Pakistani line, in the guise of backing Kashmiris”, those “who are using the killing of a terrorist, trying to project Burhan Wani, as an innocent son of an headmaster”, those “who give away operational details, of the movement, the logistical details of the armed forces when they are taking on terrorists”, those “who backed those who chanted Bharat ki Barbaadi in JNU”.
Barkha Dutt of NDTV ticked all the boxes and the informed viewers of Arnab’s show would have guessed the target. Barkha’s initial response came as a desperate spin, claiming that Arnab had asked for media to be “gagged”:
Times Now calls for gagging of media & for journalists to be tried &punished. This man is journalist?Ashamed to be from same industry as him
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 27, 2016
It took time, but people from her own fraternity and others began calling out her bluff:
Where has #ArnabGoswami called for gagging press freedom in #India?
— Chitra Subramaniam (@chitraSD) July 28, 2016
Barkha tried to shift the goal-post but was caught again:
Shifting goalposts here. #Arnab said people including in the media found guilty must be pulled up. Pretty generic. https://t.co/OBcQURyZoM
— Chitra Subramaniam (@chitraSD) July 29, 2016
Eventually, though, Barkha was caught in her own trap. She admitted that the closest thing Arnab had said to “gagging the press”, was last year, when he had asked for censorship of Leslee Udwin’s documentary.
@boseudayan nonsense udayan. He clearly called for censorship of documentary last year and trial of journalists this year @mihirssharma
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 30, 2016
So, is Arnab’s alleged call for censoring a documentary equal to a call for gagging the media? This was Barkha Dutt’s first claim when she sparked off the controversy:
Times Now calls for gagging of media & for journalists to be tried &punished. This man is journalist?Ashamed to be from same industry as him
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 27, 2016
By that logic, did Barkha Dutt also indulge in “gagging” of the social media, when she sued a blogger Chaitanya Kunte, forced him to shut shop and disappear? Further, if the call for “gagging the media” was made last year, why did Barkha Dutt suddenly get so perturbed? Is it to deflect attention from Hafiz Saeed’s endorsement?
Or is she afraid of a “trial”? Why would an honest journalist be afraid of a trial by a judicial process, in her own country? Unless the said journalist is not honest, or doesn’t trust the judiciary…
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Barkha Dutt also claimed that she “didn’t give a toss” for Arnab’s opinion. Ironically this was claimed in a verbose Facebook post. But as we see now, Barkha did indeed get deeply affected by Arnab’s barbs.
Since then, Barkha has over 50 tweets dedicated to this issue, a blog on NDTV, and incessant re-plugging of the her Facebook and blog posts. And inspite of all this, it appears Barkha wants more support. She has now feuded with many journalists, in public, on social media, asking for more support.
First, she pontificated to CNN IBN anchor Bhupendra Chaubey, on how she expected him to cover her spat with Arnab, and how she expected his support:
@bhupendrachaube hope to see more courage from you like @Zakka_Jacob call out attempts to throttle media
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 27, 2016
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Then Barkha had a fight with ANI News editor Smita Prakash. While Prakash was trying to argue that the debate on Chaubey’s show was tilted towards Barkha, Barkha had a problem that there was even a debate! She expected complete and utter support!
@smitaprakash what’s the debate ? what is the other side to a journalist asking for media to be tried ? @CNNnews18@bhupendrachaube
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 28, 2016
So the great host of the great debate show “The Buck Stops Here”, does not even want a debate on her acts. Barkha in fact hadn’t even seen the concerned show and yet was hyper-ventilating online:
@smitaprakash No, I did phono, as I was out. But i ask again, what’s the other side to McCarthyism @CNNnews18 @bhupendrachaube
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 28, 2016
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@smitaprakash means? I never used the word bias. I disagreed ( on air) with framing it as fight b/w individuals @CNNnews18@bhupendrachaube
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 28, 2016
Next she moved on to Rajdeep Sardesai. She hinted that by choosing to remain silent, Rajdeep was complicit in the attacks on her. Rajdeep had written a post on this issue, titled: “Why I will not speak on the Arnab-Barkha ‘war'”
For my friend @sardesairajdeep – my column- When an editor asks for media to be put on trial- silence is complicity https://t.co/3Erj7yoRAe
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 29, 2016
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@ashutosh83B @sardesairajdeep disappointed because this IS about the freedom of reporters to report freely from all sides. Thanks
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 29, 2016
Rajdeep claimed that even without saying much, he had said a lot, but Barkha did not seem pleased:
@sardesairajdeep true. I used my pen. I still wait for you to use yours. Because your ink hasnt run dry yet, I know that.
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 29, 2016
Even non-journalists, were not spared by Barkha. Chetan Bhagat committed the great sin of asking whether he could like Arnab and Barkha both, but of course Barkha arm-twisted him into choosing her.
@chetan_bhagat This isnt about who you like. Its about whether you support journalists who want to gag others @sardesairajdeep @rahulkanwal
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 29, 2016
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This is the same Barkha Dutt, who accuses Right Wing leaders of summoning “twitter armies” whenever there is an argument, when in fact it is mostly ordinary user jumping in using their own free will. While, Barkha is admonishing, sermonising and egging other journalists to come and support her unequivocally, just because she thinks she is right.
Even as we report this, Barkha Dutt is still fixated on this issue, inspite of proclaiming that “she doesn’t give a toss” for Arnab. Clearly, Arnab Goswami has become one of the few journalists to break the code of Omerta, of silence, when it comes to questioning those within the media. And on this occasion, even without naming Barkha Dutt, he has managed to disturb her to an extent that she has been reduced to publicly fighting and begging for support from those within her fraternity.
Arnab Goswami sets the agenda for Times Now, but for the past few days, he has set the agenda for an NDTV journalist too.//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
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