Today Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot demanded that Republic Editor in Chief Arnab Goswami should be sacked. Reacting to the firebrand journalist’s comments on Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the veteran Congress leader demanded that Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar must sack Arnab Goswami immediately.
Gehlot tweeted, “Attack on Mrs Sonia Gandhi by Arnab Goswami is highly condemnable. He has gone insane and crossed all limits, he should be ashamed of himself. I must ask the Editors guild – isn’t this all time low for journalism? Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar must sack him immediately.”
The Rajasthan CM was reacting to Arnab Goswami slamming Sonia Gandhi for her silence on Palghar lynching of sadhus. Anchoring in a program on Republic network’s Hindi news channel Republic Bharat, Arnab Goswami had said if some Christian religious leader was lunched, Sonia Gandhi from Italy would not have remained silent. He said, ‘now she will send report to Italy, saying I where I have made a government, I got Hindu saints murdered. She will be applauded from Italy. These people should be ashamed of themselves’.
Obviously, Congress leaders are furious with these comments, and as a result the Congress CM demanded that Arnab should be sacked. But Ashok Gehlot forgot one important detail, that only Arnab Goswami can sack Arnab Goswami, and MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar can’t do that.
When Republic TV was launched by Arnab Goswami after quitting Times Now, Asianet News owned by Rajeev Chandrasekhar had partially funded the venture. The Rajya Sabha MP was also a director in the news network.
But in May last year, Arnab Goswami had purchased the shares of his company back from Asianet, becoming the majority shareholder. Chandrasekhar also resigned from the position of director in the company, after he had joined BJP.
At present Arnab Goswami is the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of the news network, apart from being the majority shareholder. According to a report in February this year, Goswami owns over 82 per cent stake in ARG Outlier Media Pvt L, the firm that owns and operates Republic TV and Republic Bharat channels, apart from its digital properties.
The company had issued a statement regarding the ownership of the company to counter “misleading media reports making false and malafide claims about the exact ownership of the consolidated network.”
With over 82% stack, and as Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami has complete control over the channel, which has become the only major media network fully controlled by a journalist. Although Asianet still remains a minority investor in the company, it is clear that Rajeev Chandrasekhar has not authority to ‘sack Arnab Goswami’. Ashok Gehlot wants Arnab Goswami to be sacked, he should ask Armab Goswami to sack Arnab Goswami, because at present nobody else can sack Arnab Goswami from Republic.
Gehlot questioning Editor’s Guild over the issue also comes a day late, as Goswami had already resigned from the Editor’s Guild yesterday on live TV. He had resigned after slamming Guild president Shekhar Gupta destroying the remaining credibility of the organisation over the issue of Palghar lynching.
