Arnab arrest is bad, so also is of other journalists

Union ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have correctly slammed the arrest of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami’s arrest by Maharashtra Police. For the action against Goswami appears to be retaliatory. Information & Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, for instance, tweeted, “We condemn the attack on press freedom in #Maharashtra. This is not the way to treat the Press. This reminds us of the emergency days when the press was treated like this.” The Minister and his colleagues in the government and the ruling party would do a greater service to press freedom if they also condemn the retaliatory action against all journalists across the country.

It is a well-known fact that many chief ministers regard state police as their private army; it is used and abused for political purposes. The malaise is nationwide and cuts across party lines. Journalists often suffer because of this systemic malady.

Another malady pertains to sentimentalist and agenda-driven journalism, a big proponent of which is Goswami himself. As I wrote earlier, “Now, Goswami is certainly not a shining example of Indian journalism. Loud, churlish, and often clownish, he looks like an agenda-driven activist rather than an objective newsman. But journalist he certainly is—a bad one surely, but then even bad journalists have the right to freedom of expression” (<a href="https://indianarrative.com/opinion/conservative_estimates/first-they-came-for-arnab-goswami-and-republic-tv-18685.html">https://indianarrative.com/opinion/conservative_estimates/first-they-came-for-arnab-goswami-and-republic-tv-18685.html</a>).

While bad journalists have the right to freedom of expression, they often end up eroding their own and others’ individual liberty and free speech. Akshata Naik—widow of Anvay Naik, whose suicide has embroiled Goswami in the abetment case—made an excellent point: “Arnab Goswami kept saying arrests should be made in Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide case where there was no suicide note. My husband left behind a suicide note naming Arnab and two others but no arrests were made. How is this fair? I really want to thank Maharashtra police for this day” (<em>The Times Of India</em>, November 5).

Journalists like Goswami are also responsible for exacerbating the systemic maladies which proved to be his bane yesterday. On his own account, he was unfairly arrested and thrashed. His arrest was bad and that he should enjoy free speech, but his own behavior doesn’t do the Indian media proud. By continuously making irresponsible statements and relentlessly carrying out campaigns, he has reduced television news to a spectacle—and not an edifying one.

Yet, Arnab Goswami’s arrest could be a boost to free speech if politicians like Javadekar mean what they say about press freedom. They should bury their political differences and ensure that journalists are not unfairly targeted anywhere in the country..