Arnab Goswami in his closing remarks hinted that some people had asked him to “compromise”, however, saying that these are the habits of ‘dirtbags’, he said that no compromise would be met. He then said:
“Some people say, you know, we can bleed you. We can go after your investors, we can go after your advertisers. I want to tell you, if this is going to be a blood bath, you won’t survive it. I will swim in the blood and come out of it. First of all, I will not bleed. Let’s be clear who is going to bleed in the blood bath. Liars will bleed”.
Sending out a message to “hypothetical police officers”, Arnab Goswami further says, “don’t you dare suggest compromise! No nudge-nudge, no wink-wink, no compromise. No favours, no lies, no compromise. No pulling back once we are on the front foot. And the message is going clear right now. We will open all the skeletons. I love being among skeletons. There is something very uplifting about being among skeletons because you realise that there are some skeletons that don’t even have a spine. Those are the skeletons we like to observe more closely. Don’t we?”. We don’t have Swiss bank accounts, lavish weddings etc”.
Clearly, in his closing statement, Arnab Goswami hinted that he was approached for a ‘compromise’, however, he would not be taking up that offer, and instead, continue to do stories that expose the Maharashtra government and the state machinery, including the Mumbai Police, that it is using the issue diktats.
During the entire witch-hunt, it is essential to note that the Lutyens media remained stoically silence. In fact, the NBSA even went ahead to chastise Republic TV, instead of condemning the state-sponsored witch-hunt against him.
While NBA said that it stands for freedom of speech and expression of the editorial staff of Republic TV even though the network is not its member and does not subscribe to its Code, it took great pain to not say anything directly against the Maharashtra government and Mumbai Police. Although the NBA tried to do a balancing act by criticising the police action and the Republic, in fact, the entire statement is slamming Republic, with some text thrown in to express concern about journalists and freedom of speech.
In the second para itself, the statement says, “we do not approve of the kind of journalist that is being practised by Republic TV”. Then it adds that while it stands for freedom of speech, it also endorses the practice of ethics in journalism, and fair and balanced reporting, implying that the reporting by Republic is not ethical and fair.
In the entire statement, the NBA sought to make a difference between journalists working in Republic TV and the channel itself, exposing its deep hatred for Arnab Goswami. It appealed Mumbai Police to ‘ensure that no journalists are made victims of this crossfire’. This directly means that they are ok with Mumbai police hounding Republic and its promoter-editor, and they are only concerned about the journalists. They appealed that journalists working with Republic to not cross the Lakshman Rekha, means asking them to revolt against Arnab Goswami.
The NBA states that “it does not support toxic content and unethical journalism”, thereby passing a verdict on Republic TV.
In fact, the NBA again included its opposition to the CBI probe in the TRP scam case, saying it expresses serious concern about the FIR registered by UP Police and subsequent transfer of the case to CBI. It requested the UP govt to withdraw the FIR referred to CBI.
With the entire media ecosystem and political class standing against Arnab Goswami, his declaration of ‘no compromise’ holds immense value as it is a clear indication that the story is not over and we are set to see more fireworks over the next few weeks.
Source: OP India
