In May 2017, when Arnab Goswami opened a new media house a few months after he quit Times Group, he decided to set up its office in Mumbai. Given the fact most of the ‘national’ media houses of the country have offices in Delhi-NCR, it was a very counterintuitive decision. Moreover, the political-bureaucratic establishment, access to which used to be essential to run any media house, is based in Delhi. So, most media startups set up their offices in Noida film city or some other part of the National Capital Region.
But Arnab set up the office in Mumbai because he wanted to maintain arm’s length distance from the same political-bureaucratic establishment, access to which used to be essential to run any media house. According to Arnab, the bureaucrats, political leaders, and political parties try to influence the editorial policies of the media houses through various means. Therefore, any media house that wants its editorial policy to not be influenced by the Lutyens establishment must have an office in someplace other than NCR.
A look at the editorial policy of the TV channels based in NCR would convince you that Arnab was not wrong. Most of the TV channels favour the government of the day instead of having an independent editorial policy. There are various reasons behind the fact that TV channels become an extended propaganda arm of the government.
The government- union and state- and political parties are the largest source of advertisement revenue for any TV channel. Arnab has the confidence that he could run the TV channel with the private advertisements if TRPs are good, and he does not need any favour by the government of the day, whether it is the state government or the union government.
Although there is rampant corruption in the government of Maharashtra as well as BMC since decades, generally politicians do not interfere with the functioning of the business. This is the reason why Mumbai is known for its libertarian culture.
However, since the tri-party alliance government came to power, there has been a massive infringement on free speech and functioning of businesses. The freedom for which Arnab moved to Mumbai is no longer there since Uddhav Thackeray took oath as CM in November 2019.
Not to forget the day when Sameet Thakkar, a social media activist, was arrested by the Maharashtra government for making ‘objectionable’ comments on CM Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray. After Nagpur court granted him bail, the Maharashtra government re-arrested him for the same charges.
The vendetta politics of Maharashtra government is in full swing and anybody who makes a statement against the ruling alliance or its leaders is being arrested. It has been less than a year since Uddhav took oath as CM and the government has filed at least 10 FIRs against those insulting the CM or the government.
Arnab Goswami, who took on Maharashtra government over the handing of Sushant Singh Rajput case and Palghar lynching case, has been now arrested in an abetment of suicide case against him that was already closed in 2018.
To make a distance from the Lutyens rotten culture, Arnab Goswami moved to Mumbai, unaware of the fact that he was set to get into a bigger rut. Shiv Sena, a party known for vandalism and goondaism, came to power in the state in alliance with Congress and NCP.
All three parties hate anybody leaning towards the right. Congress and NCP have become more vindictive since they lost power at the centre. Arnab Goswami openly says that he is pro-capitalism, pro-army but socially liberal. He and his channel supported the entry of women in Sabarimala temple while many parties on right including BJP took an opposite stand on the issue.
Arnab criticized BJP on these issues but Fadnavis government never infringed on his right to take a stand. He moved to Mumbai because he wanted to pursue journalism through the ideas and ideologies he believed in, without any interference from the Lutyens media, but, he is in a bigger mess now as the vindictive Uddhav government is in power.