Despite being called out so many times in the recent past for the lies, India Today and its so-called senior ‘journalists’ like the channels news editor Rahul Kanwal seems to be feeling no remorse at all. Rahul Kanwal took to Twitter today to celebrate the fact that Bollywood big-wigs had joined hands to gag Arnab Goswami by approaching the High Court. Interestingly, this brazen celebration of attempts to stifle the free press comes only days after India Today blamed Republic TV for a scam that the former is accused in.
Rahul Kanwal took to Twitter and expressed his exhilaration by saying: “Glad that Bollywood finally found the collective will to take on toxic news channels”. He audaciously furthered that the “crazy anchors and editors should know that defaming people and levelling charges without evidence has consequences. About time”.
Rahul Kanwal published this celebratory tweet after Bollywood’s leading associations and production houses filed a suit in Delhi High Court against Republic TV, Arnab Goswami, Pradeep Bhandari, Times Now, Navika Kumar and Rahul Shivshankar earlier in the day. As per reports, the suit has asked them to refrain from making ‘irresponsible, defamatory and derogatory remarks’ against Bollywood in wake of the mysterious death of Sushant Singh Rajput and subsequent drug scandal that has emerged.
Four cine-associations and 34 production houses including the ones owned by Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar, Farhan Akhtar, Rakesh Roshan, Salman Khan and his brother Sohail Khan, Ajay Devgn and Aditya Chopra amongst others have filed the suit.
Interestingly, while celebrating this brazen attempt by the Bollywood cartel to stifle freedom of the press, Rahul Kanwal wrote towards the end that “crazy anchors and editors should know that defaming people and levelling charges without evidence has consequences”. This assertion is slightly preachy considering only a couple of days ago, India Today had tried to run an entire campaign trying to blame Arnab Goswami and Republic TV for a TRP scam that India Today was an accused in.
How India Today has been caught in his own web of lies
Speaking about India Today, their vexation towards Republic aggrevated after the recent TRP ‘scam’ issue left the media giant riling in pain. India Today landed up making a fool of themselves after going hammer and tongs against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami following the press conference by Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh regarding the TRP scam case.
India Today had almost lost its mental balance following Mumbai PC’s claims, only to learn later that the complained filed by BARC had actually named India Today TV for the crime, not Republic TV. The FIR filed in the case had been accessed by Republic TV, which showed that India Today was named in the FIR, not Republic TV as alleged by Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
India Today, left red-faced, lied and twisted the statement of the very witness who had indicted India Today to exonerate themselves and implicate Republic TV. However, their lies were summarily exposed by OpIndia.
As if this much of humiliation was not enough, that later it was learnt that India Today was asked to pay a fine of Rs 5,00,000 after their explanation did not satisfactorily explain the increase in India Today viewership by the BARC Disciplinary Council.
Basically, it was India Today’s dwindling TRP and its own web of lies clubbed with Republic TV soaring viewership which pushed the channel and its journalists like Rahul Kanwal, Rajdeep Sardesai etc to indulge in such chicanery.
Republic TV has been at the top of the media food chain since the very day it was launched. For over 100 weeks, Republic TV has been number 1 in terms of BARC ratings and recently, Republic Bharat also beat AajTak to become the number 1 Hindi news channel. Outraged by being unseated as far as viewership is concerned, India Today and its anchors like Rahul Kanwal and Rajdeep Sardesai have targeted Republic TV over and over again – sometimes with fake news and other times with hollow tweets like the one written by Rahul Kanwal.
In the end, however, what they have only managed to do is give Arnab Goswami and his channel Republic TV even more publicity since they can’t seem to not talk about the channel or its owner. Perhaps, these rants by India Today and its anchor can be considered a classic example of how, in blinded jealousy, one tends of shoot oneself in the foot – repeatedly.
