Republic TV as on 2020-Apr-07

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Republic TV
RepublicTVLogo
Launched 6 May 2017 ; 2 years ago  (2017-05-06)
Owned by Arnab Goswami
ARG Outlier Media
Asianet News
Picture format MPEG-3?MPEG-4/HD
2160p 4K UHD (Republic World)
4320p 8K UHD ( Republic Bharat)
Audience share 762 (August 2019, BARC India)
Slogan "You are republic, we are your voice"
Country India
Language Hindi,English
Broadcast area Worldwide
Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Sister channel(s) R. Bharat
Website Republic TV
Streaming media
JioTV [1]
Republic TV Live [2]

Republic TV is an Indian television news channel.

Co-founded by Arnab Goswami, former editor-in-chief of Times Now, the channel was launched on 6 May 2017 as a free-to-air channel. The venture was primarily funded, by co-founder Rajeev Chandrasekhar, then an independent legislator from the National Democratic Alliance through his company Asianet News; Goswami became the majority owner on 6 May 2019, after Chandrasekhar pared his stake.

The Financial Express noted the Republic TV to be the most watched English news channel in India for 100 weeks in a row since its founding. [21] After a brief gap in the first quarter of 2019, Republic TV alternated with DD India for the most-watched English news channel in the weekly ratings of BARC India group. [30]

Arnab Goswami has been pivotal to the favorable public reception.

History

Background

Arnab Goswami resigned as Editor-in-Chief of Times Now on 1 November 2016 citing editorial differences, lack of freedom and newsroom politics. [8] [9]

On 16 December, he announced his next venture, a news channel called Republic TV. It was claimed that the channel would be India's first independent media platform that would 'democratize' news and compete with global media giants whilst being unabashedly pro-India. [16]

Funding

Republic TV was funded in part by Asianet (ARG Outlier Asianet News Private Limited), which was primarily funded by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a then-independent member of Rajya Sabha who had intricate links with Bharatiya Janata Party and was vice-chairman of the National Democratic Alliance in Kerala. [17] [16] Among other major investors were Goswami, his wife, educationists Ramdas Pai and Ramakanta Panda—all of whom invested through SARG Media Holding Private Ltd. [18]

Chandrasekhar resigned from the board, after he officially joined the BJP in April 2018; [19] Goswami purchased back Asianet's shares in May 2019. [20] [21]

Recruitments

S. Sundaram, who had served as the CFO for Times Now between 2005 and 2012, was named the Group CFO. [22] Chief Business Officer of Reliance Broadcast Network Vikas Khanchandani was made the CEO and co-founder of The News Minute, Chitra Subramaniam was roped in as the editorial adviser.

Others who joined included senior anchor of Thanthi TV S. A. Hariharan, [23] retired army officer and television personality Gaurav Arya, [24] former chief correspondent from Jammu and Kashmir for Times Now Aditya Raj Kaul, writer and founder-editor of Gentleman and Business Barons, Minhaz Merchant [25] and actor Anupam Kher. [26]

An internal memo floated by Chandrasekhar's group once asked for selective recruitment of right-of-center pro-military voices which were aligned to his ideology. [27]

Launch

The channel was launched on 6 May 2017 as a free-to-air channel through most DTH services and cable television operators, alongside over mobile platforms such as JioTV and Hotstar. [28] Reporting on its launch, Business Standard wrote, "The company has already hired 300 people, of whom 215 are on board. A state-of-the-art-studio is being built in Mumbai's Lower Parel area." [29]

Reception

Public

The Financial Express noted the Republic TV to be the most watched English news channel in India for 100 weeks in a row since its founding. [21] The top news channel spot was taken over by DD India, a public service broadcaster, in February 2019, according to the Indian newspaper Live Mint. [20] In the first quarter of 2019, Republic TV and DD India have alternated for the most-watched channel position in the English channel news weekly ratings as measured by BARC India group. [30]

Arnab Goswami has been the pivotal factor behind the favorable public reception. [31]

Critical commentary

The channel has been noted for strongly advocating its nationalistic ideology and pro-India reporting [32] frequent support of the similarly aligned Bharatiya Janata Party [33] and Hindutva across a wide spectrum of situations. [34] [35] It does not hesitate to chide and show in negative light opposition to this ideology. [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [13] [44] [2] [45] It has also been alleged that the channel popularized the neologisms of 'urban naxal' and 'tukde-tukde gang' to denote groups trying to divide India. [46] [47] [2]

Some criticize Republic for its noisy and chaotic style of debates which are replete with shouting, interruptions, screaming and name-calling; and for being judgmental, brash and hawkish. [52] [53] [54] [55]

Controversies

In 2017, in the first week of its airing, the TRAI cautioned the channel against practices intended to inflate its reported viewership. [70] [71] [72] [73] [74] [75]

Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, whose wife Sunanda was murdered in suspicious circumstances, filed a civil defamation case in the Delhi High Court against Goswami and Republic TV in connection with the channel's broadcast of news items from 8 to 13 May claiming his link in his wife's murder in 2014. Justice Manmohan ruled, "Bring down the rhetoric. You can put out your story (and) you can put out the facts. You cannot call him names. That is uncalled for." [5] [6] [76]

Reporters from the channel have been banned from attending any press conference of Indian National Congress, a clear attack on India's press freedom by the political party. [85]

References

  1. Narasimhan, T. E. (6 May 2019). "Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Asianet pares stake in Arnab Goswami's Republic TV". Business Standard India. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  2. Madan, Aman (23 January 2019). "India's Not-So-Free Media". The Diplomat. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  3. "English news channel ratings: TRAI's intervention leads to decline in Republic TV's viewership". The Economic Times.12 June 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  4. "TRAI rules against Republic TV's unethical distribution practices to boost ratings - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  5. "Congress leader Shashi Tharoor files defamation case against Republic TV's Arnab Goswami". Indian Express. 26 May 2017.
  6. "Shashi Tharoor files defamation suit against Arnab Goswami, Republic TV in High Court". The Economic Times. 26 May 2017.
  7. ""I was suspected as Shashi Tharoor's mole": Republic TV journalist resigns". National Herald. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  8. Srikrishna, Vasupradha (1 September 2019). "Neoliberal Media Making the Public Interest and Public Choice Theory Obsolete: Need for a New Theory". Media Watch. 10(3) doi: 10.15655/mw/2019/v10i3/49692. ISSN 2249-8818.
  9. Team, BS Web (27 March 2017). "Arnab Goswami gets candid: Was not even allowed to enter Times Now studio". Business Standard India. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  10. Ayres, Alyssa (5 December 2017). Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World. Oxford University Press. pp. 34, 81. ISBN 9780190494537.
  11. "Arnab Goswami's new venture". Business Standard. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  12. "Arnab Goswami announces new venture; Times Now gets a new chief editor". Firstpost. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  13. Venkataramakrishnan, Shoaib Daniyal & Rohan. "'Proud of all my partners': Arnab Goswami when asked about BJP influence in new venture". Scroll.in. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  14. "Arnab Goswami has announced his new venture 'Republic'". The Indian Express.
  15. "Arnab Goswami changes channel name to Republic TV, gives in to Subramanian Swamy". Firstpost. 31 January 2017. Archived from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  16. Bhushan, Sandeep (25 January 2017). "Arnab's Republic, Modi's Ideology". The Wire.
  17. "What the Nation Wants to Know but Arnab's Republic Won't Tell You". The Quint. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  18. Kaushik, Krishn (13 January 2017). Media Watch. 10(3) "Kerala NDA vice-chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar investor, director in Arnab Goswami's Republic". The Indian Express. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  19. "Rajeev Chandrasekhar resigns as board director of Republic TV, says decision taken as he is now BJP MP - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  20. Arnab Goswami buys back Republic Media shares from Asianet, Live Mint (A Hindustan Times Media company), Lata Jha (May 6, 2019)
  21. Arnab Goswami buys back shares from Asianet; Republic TV now valued at this much, The Financial Express (May 6, 2019)
  22. "S Sundaram joins Republic as CFO". exchange4media.com. 23 February 2017. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  23. "Arnab's Republic adds S.A.Hariharan from Thanthi TV to its Editorial team". tvnews4u.com. 27 February 2017. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  24. "Major Gaurav Arya collaborates with Arnab's Republic TV". newslaundry.com. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  25. "Minhaz Merchant on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  26. Sen, Rajyasree (24 May 2017). "Anupam Kher's People a welcome break from the screaming jingoism of Republic TV". Livermint.Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  27. Pande, Manisha (20 October 2016). "Asianet And The 'Independence' Of Rajeev Chandrasekhar". Newslaundry.
  28. "Arnab Goswami's Republic first Indian news channel to air live on Hotstar". Business Standard. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  29. Kohli-Khandekar, Vanita (6 May 2017). "Arnab Goswami's Republic TV went live today; but why so much fuss over it?". Business Standard. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  30. Dingdong Contest between DD India and Republic TV in English News Genre, Television India
  31. Panwar, Tapish; Khan, Kalim (2019). "Ingredient Branding as a Branding Strategy for News Channels in India". International Journal of Business Insights & Transformation. 12 (2): 8–15.
  32. Verma, Ramit (29 October 2019). "Peeing Human is waging a war on 'Modia'. Here's how, and why". Newslaundry.
  33. Bajpai, Shailaja (24 October 2019). "Here's why you will watch Arnab Goswami & Navika Kumar long after election results are out". ThePrint. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  34. Pande, Manisha (30 October 2019). "Indian journalists got a chance to grill controversial MEPs touring Kashmir. They asked about Pakistan, western media". Newslaundry. Retrieved 1 November 2019
  35. Pande, Manisha (21 October 2019). "Bloodlust TV: Calling out India's hate media". Newslaundry.
  36. S, Meghnad (4 July 2019). "Rahul Gandhi's resignation allowed TV channels to do what they do best". Newslaundry.
  37. Drabu, Onaiza (2018). "Who Is the Muslim? Discursive Representations of the Muslims and Islam in Indian Prime-Time News". Religions. 9 (9): 283. doi: 10.3390/rel9090283.
  38. Sharma, Ashish (31 March 2018). "Media predisposition in Gujarat Elections: A comparative analysis of Hashtags utilized by Republic TV and Times Now TV Channels". International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology. 6 (3): 35–39. doi: 10.22214/ijraset.2018.3005. ISSN 2321-9653.
  39. "Podcast | Questions Arnab Goswami Didn't Ask Modi". The Quint. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  40. Jawed, Sam (22 January 2018). "The sham of Republic TV's Twitter Polls". Alt News. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  41. Inamdar, Nikhil. "How Narendra Modi has almost killed the Indian media". Quartz India. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  42. Jawed, Sam (8 June 2017). "One month of Republic TV – How did they fare?". Alt News. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  43. Jawed, Sam (27 October 2017). "Republic claims Rahul Gandhi and Owaisi asked people not to stand up for National Anthem. Is that true?". Alt News. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  44. Venkataramakrishnan, Rohan. "The Daily Fix: Why the FIR ordered against Arnab Goswami is a blow to free media". Scroll.in. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  45. Filkins, Dexter (2 December 2019). "Blood and Soil in Narendra Modi's India". ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  46. Mishra, Samarth; Kumar Shukla, Aditya (2019). "Balancing Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech: Case of India" (PDF). Pramana Research Journal. 9 (6): 1414. ISSN 2249-2976.
  47. Bajpai, Shailaja (11 May 2017). "On the run". The Indian Express. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  48. "Tale of Two Republics: Why Shourie Compared Our Media to N Korea's". The Quint. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  49. Varadarajan, Siddharth (2019). "The State and/of the Media in Modi's India". In Nilsen, Alf Gunvald; Nielsen, Kenneth Bo; Vaidya, Anand (eds.). Indian Democracy: Origins, Trajectories, Contestations Pluto Press. pp. 59–60. ISBN 9780745338927. JSTOR j.ctvdmwxfb.9.
  50. Anderson, Edward; Jaffrelot, Christophe (2 October 2018). "Hindu nationalism and the 'saffronisation of the public sphere': an interview with Christophe Jaffrelot". Contemporary South Asia. 26 (4): 468–482. doi: 10.1080/09584935.2018.1545009. ISSN 0958-4935.
  51. Meenakshi Ravi (18 February 2020). "Brash and bigoted: How Arnab Goswami changed India's TV debate". The Listening Post (Podcast). Al Jazeera English. Event occurs at 04:55-05:02. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  52. Kohli-Khandekar, Vanita (8 May 2017). "Arnab's Republic a reflection of what India has become- noisy and chaotic". Business Standard. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  53. "Arnab Goswami's Republic TV is losing the battle of babble; why not try something completely different?". Firstpost. 27 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  54. "Why Court Dismissed BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Plea Against The Wire". The Wire. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  55. "Debate: Why Arnab Goswami's Banana 'Republic' Also Needs to Have a Seat at the Table". The Wire. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  56. Chandrashekhar, Vaishnavi. "India's Media Is War-Crazy". Foreign Policy Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  57. "From Indo-Pak to Chindia and back to Indo-Pak, writes Ramachandra Guha". Hindustan Times. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  58. Jacob, Jency (23 September 2017). "'Never Be Afraid', Says Arnab Goswami. But How About Not Lying? | | BOOM". boomlive.in. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  59. "Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj Calls Out Republic Over 'False' Allegations". The Quint. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  60. "Is 35A Temporary and Discriminatory? Fact-Checking Arnab's Claims". The Quint. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  61. "Media Echoes 'British Herald' Calling PM Modi Most Powerful Person". The Quint. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  62. Sam Jawed, altnews in. "Darkness in Jama Masjid, conversion rate card and 10 more fake news stories spread by media in 2017". Scroll in. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  63. Patel, Jignesh (29 November 2018). "Times Now and Republic TV misreport Congress manifesto for Telangana as Muslim-centric". Alt News. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  64. Desk, Alt News (28 April 2019). "Republic TV falsely portrays man praising PM Modi as a Congress MLA". Alt News. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  65. Desk, Alt News (23 March 2018). "Breaking Fake News: Aaj Tak and Republic TV misreport Delhi HC verdict on AAP MLAs". Alt News. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  66. Sidharth, Arjun (6 January 2018). "Was Jignesh Mevani's press conference "Congress sponsored" as alleged by Republic TV?". Alt News. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  67. Desk, Alt News (17 October 2017). "Republic TV gets caught faking twice in a day". Alt News. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  68. Desk, Alt News (6 September 2017). "Right wing spews venom on social media after Senior Journalist Gauri Lankesh is shot dead". Alt News. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  69. "Republic TV misreports: Calls gunman a 'Jamia protester', blames Arvind Kejriwal for violence". Newslaundry. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  70. Ahluwalia, Harveen (18 May 2017). "Arnab Goswami's Republic TV topples Times Now in debut week: Barc data". Livemint Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  71. "Republic TV has 51.9% viewership in debut week: BARCH gives data to paid subs despite NBAs request". indiantelevision.com. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  72. Saxena, co-authored by Atul Dev,Nikita. "The Curious Case of Republic TV's Ratings, and the Official Rating Agency's Blind Eye To It". The Caravan. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  73. Agarwal, Nikhil (15 May 2017). "Arnab Goswami's Republic TV uses unethical tactics to push viewership, NBA petitions TRAI". India Today. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  74. Ahluwalia, Harveen (16 May 2017). "Arnab Goswami's Republic TV flouting rules, says NBA in Trai complaint". Livemint. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  75. "TRAI rules against Republic TV's unethical distribution practices to boost ratings". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  76. "'Bring down the rhetoric', Delhi HC tells Arnab Goswami, Republic TV". The Hindu 29 May 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  77. "Times Now files criminal case for stealing against Arnab Goswami of Republic TV". The Economic Times. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  78. "Arnab Goswami faces police complaint for 'cheating' Times Now over Sunanda Pushkar, Lalu tapes". Daily News and Analysis.. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  79. "Times Group files criminal complaint against Arnab Goswami for IPR breach". Business Standard. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  80. What the NBSA ignored in its Republic TV order, Newslaundry, Cherry Agarwal (8 September 2018)
  81. "Broadcasters Body Asks Republic TV's Arnab Goswami to Apologise For Misreporting". The Wire. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  82. "After Kerala floods controversy, Arnab Goswami and Republic TV face another trouble". The Week
  83. Nair, Veena (15 October 2019). "India's broadcasting regulator ordered Republic TV to air an apology, but it didn't. What happens now?". Newslaundry.
  84. Seshu, Geeta (31 July 2019). "No, Republic TV-led News Broadcasters Federation is not fighting 'Lutyens Media'". Newslaundry.
  85. Agarwal, Cherry (16 December 2017). "Access denied: Republic TV and Times Now get blocked from Congress pressers". Newslaundry. Retrieved 14 November 2019.

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