By Florine Roche
Mangaluru, Jan 19: Even as India is getting ready to celebrate its 70th republic day on January 26, 2019 there is going to be new additions to the ever growing Indian media. Media being the fourth estate of democracy it is no wonder that new television channels, online ventures and newspapers are in the process of being launched on Republic day. After the launch of the much talked about Republic TV channel anchored by Arnab Goswami in May 2017, other prime time television anchors of Indian mainstream media are following in the same footsteps.
These additions to the existing avalanche of channels, newspapers and online portals in the country will witness the return of several so called high profile and established journalists like Barkha Dutt, Karan Thapar, Punya Prasun Bajpai and many others who are familiar to the television viewers. What has heightened the interest in the media and political circles about these new additions to the burgeoning Indian media is that many of these ventures are being backed by politicians. Considering that the general elections are round the corner in just a few months it is not surprising these new entrants are being launched at this juncture to make the most of the charged atmosphere and the political drama that is expected to unfold.
Barkha Dutt, Karan Thapar and Kapil Sibal
Controversial journalist Barkha Dutt whom army chief General Malik had accused of revealing classified information about Indian army positions during the Kargil war, is making a grand comeback to the electronic media as its prime anchor along with Karan Thapar, another known name in Indian journalism through Harvest TV a 24-hour English news channel. According to grapevine, the channel is being funded by high-profile Congress politician Kapil Sibal. Barkha Dutt who served NDTV for over two decades quit the channel under controversial circumstances in January last year. Other prominent television journalists such as Seemi Pasha and Vineet Malhotra, former India Today and former Times Now respectively, are also said to be part of the new channel and will vie for viewers attention. A Hindi channel will soon follow after the launch of the English Channel. The channel is owned by Veecon Media which has secured licenses for English, Hindi and regional language channels. The channel has promised to ‘provide space for an alternative narrative without being jingoistic’.
Vernacular spectacle
The language television media is not left behind either in this rate race for grabbing eyeballs of television viewers. Arnab Goswamy’s Republic Hindi channel is also all set to be launched in February this year. Republic Hindi was scheduled for launch in January but due to issues concerning distribution network it got delayed. Arnab is known for his inimitable style of anchoring in his Republic channel with the decibel levels reaching feverish pitch often and the channel has its own band of followers. The new channel has already launched a campaign “Poochta Hai Bharat’ which is in the lines of its English tagline “the nation wants to know”. It remains to be seen whether the channel is going to continue with the similar style of anchoring in the Hindi channels also. With the entry of Republic Hindi TV the Hindi television media, which is presently dominated by the likes of Aaj Tak, Zee News and India TV, there is going to be a real media battle for supremacy.
The news of launch of Republic Hindi channels comes just a few months after the launch of Swaraj Express in November 2018. Swaraj Express is promoted by Gurdeep Singh Sappal who was the former CEO of Rajya Sabha TV and is said to be Congressman.
Hemanth Sharma, another known face in Hindi television who was part of India TV, is also said to be launching a Hindi channel for TV 9 group with the support of other television journalists like Vinod Kapri and Ajit Anjum. Hemanth Sharma who quit India TV following differences with Rajat Sharma, is said to be close to the BJP and RSS. He had ostensibly quit the channel after his name was linked to the fraud in the medical education scam in Haryana.
The print media is not left behind either. Media conglomerate Network 18, the promoters of CNN New 18 and the promoters of the web portal Firstpost, is launching its first weekly newspaper with the same name on the Republic Day with Praveen Swamy as editor. The weekly belongs to the group of Firstpost.com, a web portal which was formed in 2010. The 20 page weekly will be launched this week end in Delhi and on Republic Day in the financial capital of India Mumbai. The same group is also said to be ready with a few more initiatives such as Club Firstpost and the Firstpost App. According to reliable sources, by getting into the print field Firstpost wants to make a journey “from virtual to the physical world’ as it believes there is week-end market for deep, thoughtful and reflective journalism.
Two other online launches promoted by experienced and well-known journalists are also in the pipeline. One is Asiaville with Jairaj Singh as its editor, is being launched by Shashi Kumar of Meida Development Foundation, the founder of Media Development Foundation, which runs the prestigious Asian College of Journalism in Chennai. Jairaj Singh is the former editor of Daily O. Asiaville is said to be a multi-media, multi-lingual digital news venture and is expected to be operational by the end of January this year.
Josy Joseph, known as an investigative journalist is also starting a news portal that promises to focus on academically rigorous content.
As the Indian media is going to be inundated with these news channels, online portals and weekly newspapers, the stage is already set for the forthcoming general elections. Discerning listeners and readers are sure to be bombarded with news and views and opinionated pieces of ‘authentic’ journalism or ‘nothing but truth’ kind of stories. Indian media is aligned either to the left or to the right and with politicians as patrons of the media houses one cannot expect better from them. Each one will try to claim supremacy and the cold war in the Indian media is going to be heightened in the days to come.