NEW DELHI // Five days a week, India’s most popular – and most controversial – news anchor is watched by hundreds of thousands of people as he hollers at his panellists. And now, his abrasive presenting style has been exported to the UK.
Arnab Goswami made his debut in British homes last week as the channel on which his show is aired seeks to build India’s first global news brand.
For keen watchers of television news, perhaps the most interesting aspect of Times Now’s global ambition is the question of how Goswami, the channel’s star, will fare in foreign markets – particularly in Britain where news presenters tend to be less confrontational.
Times Now, launched nine years ago, is India’s leading English news channel with nearly half a million viewers in the country daily.
Last Monday, Times Now began airing on Sky, the largest platform for paid television channels in the UK, where the Indian diaspora numbers about 1.4 million.
The channel is also present in Singapore, Malaysia and the United States, and has plans to move into other European countries next year. But its move into the UK market may be its most significant yet. "The UK launch is extremely important," M K Anand, Times Now's chief executive, told the Financial Times. "It can be our biggest diaspora market and a bridge into Europe."
Goswami is the anchor of Newshour, a live panel debate that airs at 9pm every weekday, as well as Frankly Speaking, an occasional interview show that features high-profile guests.
In the run-up to India’s general election last year, he was the only anchor given the opportunity to interview at length both prime minister Narendra Modi of the then opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Rahul Gandhi, vice president of the then ruling Congress.
Arguably, Goswami’s success is based on his unique style of presentation.
As the anchor and his panellists are broadcast in a screen split eight or even 10 ways, Goswami hectors guests in turn, his tone frequently spilling over into shouting.
“The nation wants to know!” he frequently thunders as part of a well-used line of questioning.
Guests are rarely allowed to finish the points they are trying to make. Mr Goswami also permits no nuance in the political issues he raises, so panellists find themselves easily polarised and trying to talk over each other to be heard.
As a result, watching Newshour can be a wearying, deafening experience, yielding little understanding of deep or complex issues.
Goswami’s manner is so notorious that it has even entered popular culture.
A clip from January 2014, in which a BJP spokeswoman accuses Goswami of taking money from political rivals to harass her party, generated a popular remix on YouTube. The video loops in a refrain of Goswami’s furious response: “Never, ever, ever, ever say something as ridiculous as: ‘You’ve taken money!’”
Famously, last November, senior BJP member Subramanian Swamy called Goswami an “ignoramus” and a liar.
“Don’t be stupid!” he shouted in response to a point Goswami raised.
“I’m not being stupid!” the anchor shot back.
This exchange was repeated three times.
But although Goswami’s style makes for uncomfortable viewing, it seems that Times Now’s owners, media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman & Co Limited (BCCL), believe the channel can do well in the UK.
According to the Financial Times, for the first time abroad, the channel has hired executives to scout for local advertising revenue.
Vanita Kohli Khandekar, a New Delhi-based media analyst, said Goswami’s popularity should translate well in the UK’s Indian diaspora market, but that he may not have wider appeal.
“If it is a global channel, fighting for the same audience as BBC or CNN International, I wouldn’t be so sure” about Times Now’s success, she said.
Ms Khandekar also pointed out that other Indian news channels, such as NDTV and Aaj Tak, already have a place in cable television packages catering to the diaspora in the UK and elsewhere.
The real question, she said, was whether Times Now would be able to build a globally-recognised brand in the mould of Al Jazeera and others, which the channel’s executives have said is part of their ambition.
Times Now has “a financially healthy parent that is experienced in running news brands in one of the world’s toughest news markets: India,” Ms Khandekar said.
But being a global news channel involves having “the ability to have bureaus, reporters and editors across the world”, she said. So far, Times Now has not announced plans to open bureaus in the UK and currently broadcasts its Indian content.
ssubramanian@thenational.ae
