2016 was the year when Arnab Goswami forced the Indian media to show its true colours. The media – which pretended to be the voice of the people – was all out to attack Arnab because he presented and supported a voice that resonated with large sections of the society.
The hate and lobbying against Arnab proved that the media was not comfortable with certain ideas and points of views – that their claim of being neutral was a sham, intended to fool people to consume their content. Arnab said many times that he didn’t believe in this fake neutrality, and he openly took sides on various issues.
Essentially, Arnab wore his bias on his sleeves, while the rest of the media had been wearing it under their pants.
This rest of the media is usually termed the “Lutyens media” referring to the Lutyens zone in Delhi where the traditional powers-to-be and power brokers reside and roam around. The media slowly became a part of that. Arnab has referred to such journalists by this term on multiple occasions during debates, and especially after he left Times Now to start his own venture.
He has claimed that this Lutyens media was status-quoist while pretending to be anti-establishment, and that it worked only in the interests of a few, including theirs own. He claimed that his new venture – which is named Republic – will be truly independent and disruptive.
Reiterating the same message, Arnab’s new venture made its debut on the social media last night. And predictably, the Lutyens media hated it.
Here are some sample reactions from some samples:
This journalist, who was moved by Rahul Gandhi’s speech, had issues with Twitter welcoming Arnab’s venture (fact is, it was not something Twitter had done specially for Arnab):
This journalist, who has been exposed just too many times, thought Arnab had exposed himself:
This journalist, who sent abusive direct messages to Twitter users and threw punches at a Modi supporter, thought Arnab’s new venture was all about fear and hate:
This journalist, who has occult powers to solve criminal cases, called Arnab’s new venture a cult:
These were just a few within hours of just a Twitter account being launched. Wait for the meltdown when Arnab finally launches his venture.
