Arnab Goswami resigns from Times Now. Why?

TNM has learnt that he announced at an editorial meeting that he has resigned.

Following several days of murmurs that the prime time star of Indian English TV news could be looking at a change, TNM has now learnt that Arnab Goswami has resigned from Times Now.

He was the Editor-in-Chief and President, News, of Times Now and ET Now. 

TNM has learnt that he announced his decision at an editorial meeting. He told his team that he will remain in television. Multiple sources in Times Now have confirmed this to TNM. 

                                

Arnab told the editorial team that he believes in the media, and that he will continue in television. 

According to a source in Times Now, a few editors and reporters were called in specifically for the meeting in which he announced that he was qutting. The meeting was called at 4:30pm and went on till about 5:30pm. 

"He repeatedly said that 'The game has just begun'," said a source in Times Now, "and that 'independent media is going to thrive'," said a source.  

Another source, who was at the meeting, told TNM that Arnab said, "I'm a rolling stone that does not gather moss."

Times Now was not a runaway success initially, but Goswami spun its ratings around with his loud television. 

Exchange for media says, "Goswami has led TIMES NOW to leadership in less than a year of launching the channel in 2006. Since 2007, he has maintained and increased the dominance of TIMES NOW in the No. 1 slot for 8 consecutive years. His 9 pm 'The Newshour' is the last word in appointment viewing on Indian television, commanding over 70 per cent share of the audience and unmatched viewer loyalty for the last 8 years.

The interview based “Frankly Speaking with Arnab” is, both in terms of viewership and impact, today the most followed interview on television, making headlines every week. As Editor in Chief of TIMES NOW, he has revolutionised news coverage, anchoring for 100 hours during the 26/11 attack, spearheading the greatest exposes against corruption starting with the CWG scam, and including the 2G scam, the Kargil for Profit scam and others in 2010-11, the coverage of the Anna agitation, and path breaking interviews with Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi in 2014 that set the news agenda in the National Election."

Arnab hails from Assam and is the son of an army officer. After obtaining a masters degree in sociology at Oxford, Arnab began his journalistic career with The Telegraph for brief period before joining NDTV.

In an interview with Scroll, senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai recalled that the Arnaab Goswami had turned up at his house to inquire about job opportunities in television news. “I had then been a mentor to him,” Rajdeep told Scroll.

The Caravan reported Arnab spent nine years at NDTV, and went on to become the head of the channel’s national news desk.

In June 2014, when the pair were invited to be members of a panel discussion, Firstpost reported that it was Arnab who made the first move and shook hands with Rajdeep before the panel began. 

In a development that is bound to shake up the Indian news media industry, Times Now and ET Now’s Editor in Chief Arnab Goswami has announced that he is quitting the Times Group.

It is likely that 1 November will be the last time Goswami’s 9pm Newshour debate will be aired on Times Now.

Goswami made the announcement in a room full of Times Now employees in Mumbai with the bureaus like Delhi joining via video conferencing. The channel staff responded with stunned silence. Goswami’s prime-time show is primarily responsible for Times Now’s consistent high ratings and his absence is likely to hurt Times Group’s 24x7 English news channel in a highly competitive market.

Started in 2005, it took Times Now a couple of years to catch up with Arnab leading the charge with his firebrand version of heated TV debates.

Goswami had recently returned from a week long vacation in Maldives.

Sources within the Times Group indicate that Arnab Goswami may have been in discussions with another organisation to set up a new television and digital news venture for the past six months. It was also indicated that at least a handful of Times Now employees will move to the new project along with him. In Arnab’s words, the new project will be a “formidable competition to BBC and CNN.”

Less than a year back, in a conference held by Russia Today, Arnab had talked about how the “hegemony of western media has to end.” Watch the video below.