I would take it very seriously and wonder why people are reacting so strongly, whether negatively or positively. Twitter was more impactful when it first arrived. You were an early news person to join Twitter (in early 2009). They should have the guts to say who we are and not copy somebody else. We all are responsible… because, as I said, too many anchors tried to be Arnab’s me-too version. But I feel we all should not make Arnab responsible for that. So then you tell yourself that it’s probably better to remain in your daily space and be who you are, try to reinvent yourself within that. I can leave my daily (show) and do only a weekly or fortnightly show and then I’d be able to travel… but in this age of hyper-information, would anyone notice a weekly show? I don’t think so. I try but if I want to be on television daily, I can’t go out to the field as often as I’d like to. The problem is that we all have stopped telling stories. If I were a student today, I might not have wanted to become a television journalist. We are now in the middle of a very different media environment than the one in which I joined journalism. I would like to go out to the field as my first love. And it’s very important for me to remain me even if only 10 people watch me… It does, however, make me feel that I must seek a reinvention beyond television because I don’t know if I will remain in daily TV for the rest of my life. Does it worry me? Yes, it worries me that I may soon become a misfit in an industry where I don’t want to be a me-too version of Arnab. No doubt Times Now is a successful brand and Arnab has completely changed the rules. which means they have given their thumbs-up to it while cribbing about it. When people complain to me that why so many panellists shout on television and why so many of them are called in the first place, they are really only talking of that kind of journalism.

It worries me that there is only one accepted template for television news now. The kind of journalism that you don’t believe in has proved to be spectacularly successful.Īgreed. Whereas Arnab is very much after the American mould of television news wherein he comes on the show with a predetermined and, I must add, declared opinion and the show has to fit into his opinion. On almost everything else, I have an open mind in engaging with different opinions. I also take sides on issues, but they are few, like on decriminalizing homosexuality, or on sexual or caste violence. But I do not relate one bit to his brand of journalism. He has got some of the biggest interviews.

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