The last few months have been hard for the Indian media. During this period, long-held notions about the media’s neutrality have considerably changed and, consequently, its credibility has been shattered.
Major news houses have suffered as a result. Popular news channel Republic TV has particularly been in the centre of controversy after being accused of garnering fake TRPs and spreading hate speech as alleged WhatsApp chats between its editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) Partho Dasgupta were leaked.
In the 1000-page leaks produced by the Mumbai Police in the fake TRP case saw, many so-called secrets spilled. If those sensational WhatsApp leaks are to be believed, Goswami knew about the revocation of the Article 370 and about other crucial developments in the country due to his alleged inside sources and contacts in the ruling regime.
Since the leaks surfaced, many media regulatory bodies have expressed shock over the illegal practices prevalent in the news world. The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has asked for reforms in the television rating system to make it more transparent and unbiased.
The NBA has also called for expulsion of Republic TV from the Indian Broadcasting Foundation. The IBF is an association of television broadcasters, and the suspension of Republic TV’s membership from the IBF will mean that the channel will no longer remain recognised by the news and media associations of the country, which will further increase troubles for the news channel. The Republic TV has been courting controversy for quite some time with its two employees summoned in the fake TRP scam case and its editor-in-chief being accused of suicide abetment among other charges recently levelled against him.
In mid-2020, Republic TV was accused of airing hate speech content by British broadcasting regulator Ofcom and the news channel apparently flashed an apology 279 times for Ofcom not to take any further action against it. However, Ofcom had imposed a financial penalty of Rs 20 Lakh as the channel did not seem to take any step to reduce the hate speech content aired on it.
After the Mumbai Police made the alleged Arnab-Partho chats public, it was clear that the two had been in collusion over fake viewership numbers involving manipulation and reduction of the TRP of other news channels to give an unfair advantage to Republic TV. The supposed manipulation of the TRPs and other details disclosed in the leaked chats indicate that Republic TV had been strong-arming other entities to establish its domination in the news sector. This allegedly predatory approach of the Republic TV has incensed some news media regulatory bodies, who are now demanding its boycott.
The NBA said both Goswami and Republic TV are not its members, and they had instead formed an alternate organisation named News Broadcasters’ Federation in 2019.
Because of BARC’s former CEO getting involved in the fake TRP case, the NBA declared that BARC ratings are unreliable and the rating system should be suspended from functioning at least till the case has been resolved and the court gives a verdict. The NBA also stated that the manipulation of the BARC rating system by Republic TV has immensely damaged the reputation and credibility of the Indian broadcasting industry and the channel should be held accountable for the same.
All said and done, though, with most media houses having their respective overt or covert leanings, it is extremely hard to tell who is actually on the right and who is not.
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