Republic TV explained

Republic TV
Network:Broadcast television and Online
Picture Format:SDTV
Owner:
Country:India
Language:English
Headquarters:Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Key People:Arnab Goswami
Sister Channels:Asianet News
Asianet Suvarna News
Republic Bharat
Republic Bangla
Republic Kannada
Republic Business
Online Serv 1:Republic TV live
Online Chan 2:Republic World
Online Serv 2:YouTube
Area:Worldwide

Republic TV (known as Republic World) is an Indian right-wing conservative English-language news channel, launched on 6 May 2017, operated and owned by Republic Media Network co-founded by Arnab Goswami and Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Its headquarters are in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Republic Media Network consists of 4 other channels, Republic Business, Republic Bharat, Republic Bangla, Republic Kannada.

History

Background

Arnab Goswami resigned as editor-in-chief of Times Now on 1 November 2016, citing editorial differences, lack of freedom and newsroom politics.[1] [2] He hosted the last edition of his show,[3] The Newshour Debate, a fortnight later.[4] [5] Incidentally, the show had been subject to an investigation by Ofcom, the UK broadcasting regulatory authority, in August and September; the investigation had held Times Now guilty of violating the impartiality clause of its broadcast code.[6]

On 16 December, Goswami announced his next venture – a news channel called Republic;[7] the name was later changed to Republic TV in the face of complaints by Subramanian Swamy.[8] Republic TV was hyped as India's first independent media outlet which would 'democratize' news and compete with global media giants whilst being unabashedly pro-India.

Funding

Republic TV was funded in part by Asianet (ARG Outlier Asianet News Private Limited), which was primarily owned by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a then-independent member of Rajya Sabha who had political links with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was vice-chairman of the National Democratic Alliance in Kerala.[9] Among other major investors were Goswami himself, his wife Samyabrata Goswami, educationists Ramdas Pai and Ramakanta Panda – all of whom invested through SARG Media Holding Private Ltd.[10]

Chandrasekhar resigned from the board, after he officially joined the BJP in April 2018;[11] Goswami purchased back Asianet's shares in May 2019.[12] [13]

Recruitments

The Wire and Newslaundry had come across an internal memo floated by Chandrasekhar's group that asked for selective recruitment of right-of-center pro-military voices, who were conducive to his ideology.[14]

S. Sundaram, who had served as the CFO for Times Now between 2005 and 2012, was named the Group CFO. Chief Business Officer of Reliance Broadcast Network Vikas Khanchandani, who had earlier stints as Senior Vice President of NDTV, was made the CEO[15] and co-founder of The News Minute, Chitra Subramaniam was roped in as the editorial adviser.[16] Others who joined included senior anchor of Thanthi TV S. A. Hariharan, retired army officer and television personality Gaurav Arya,[17] former chief correspondent from Jammu and Kashmir for Times Now Aditya Raj Kaul, writer and founder-editor of Gentleman, Minhaz Merchant[18] and actor Anupam Kher.[19]

Launch

Republic TV was launched on 6 May 2017 as Flagship channel, through most direct-to-home television in India and cable television operators, alongside over mobile platforms such as JioTV and Hotstar.[20] Reporting on its launch, Business Standard wrote "The company has already hired 300 people, of whom 215 are on board. A state-of-the-art-studio is being built in Mumbai's Lower Parel area."[21]

On 2 February 2019, the channel launched its Hindi language outlet named Republic Bharat.

Republic TV launched a Bengali language news channel, Republic Bangla, on 7 March 2021.

Republic TV bought Dighvijaya News channel from VRL Media and rebranded to Republic Kannada.[22]

Republic TV has been accused of practicing biased reporting in favour of the ruling BJP and stifling dissent; it has published fake news and Islamophobic rhetoric on multiple occasions.[23] [24] [25] It has been convicted of breaching Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and News Broadcasting Standards Authority rules.[26] [27] Republic TV is being investigated by the Mumbai Police after being accused of manipulating the viewership ratings. The inflated TRP was allegedly used to bargain higher revenues from advertisers.

Notable events

Press conference ban by Indian National Congress

Reporters from the channel have been banned from attending any press conference of the Indian National Congress, citing them being subject to incessantly aggressive attacks by the channel.[28]

Defamation

In May 2017, parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor filed a civil defamation case in the Delhi High Court against Goswami and Republic TV in connection with the channel's broadcast of news items from 8 to 13 May claiming him to be involved in his wife Sunanda Pushkar's unnatural death.[29] [30] Seeking the channel's response, Justice Manmohan of the High Court noted: "Bring down the rhetoric. You can put out your story, you can put out the facts. You cannot call him names. That is uncalled for."[31]

IP rights infringement

In May 2017, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL) lodged a complaint against Goswami and Prema Sridevi, a journalist with Republic TV, under the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act, 2000 accusing them of copyright infringement.[32] BCCL alleged that the two, previously employed with Times Now, that it owns and operates, had used its intellectual property (IP) in telecasting certain audio tapes that were in their possession during their time at the former Channel. Alongside IP infringement, the complaint also alleged the commission of offenses of theft, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of property, on the two, on multiple occasions days after the channel's launch.[33] [34]

Regulatory censures

In 2018, News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), the broadcasting regulator of India,[35] demanded Republic TV to tender a full-screen apology for use of multiple objectionable words to describe a bunch of people at a political rally, who were harassing one of his journalists.[36] Republic TV "removed the video from its website and YouTube account" after receiving the complaint[37] [38] but refused to comply with the NBSA order, instead filing an appeal.

Around a year later, it once again asked Republic TV to broadcast a public apology, after the channel declined to cooperate in another case accusing it of violating the standard prohibitions on racial and religious stereotyping, and instead commented on the body being engaged in "intense pseudo-judicial oversight".[39] Republic TV did not abide by the order yet again; incidentally, Goswami was the convener of the committee that drafted the code, years back.[40] Two weeks after, Goswami along with other media-personas formed the National Broadcasting Federation (NBF) as a new regulatory body; this has since nulled the authority of NBSA to regulate Republic TV.[41] [42] [43]

Unfair practices

In India, the Broadcast Audience Research Council is the industry body responsible for television-audience measurement. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India received complaints from the News Broadcasters Association against Republic TV alleging that it was violating the telecom authority's broadcast sector regulations with its unfair practices and sought an investigation into it.

According to the complaint, Republic Bharat had declared its genre as English news, but it was appearing in additional genres after registering itself in those genres. For example, in Delhi, the channel was appearing in both English and Hindi news category. Each "impression" that is reported in the TV viewership data, is an individual instance of viewing of the channel, even if it is a fleeting view. When a viewer cycled through the channels, Republic TV would appear twice, giving it double impressions as compared to other channels. Some cable network had set Republic TV as the default channel (i.e. landing channel) displayed whenever the TV was turned on, thereby increasing the impressions. These practices were seen as a deliberate attempt to illegally garner higher Broadcast Audience Research Council ratings and increase viewership.[44] [45]

The complainants, NBA also sought from the Broadcast Audience Research Council that it withhold publishing viewership data for Republic until its unfair practices stopped. The Broadcast Audience Research Council did not act on the request. Subsequently, multiple leading English-language news channels exited from the Broadcast Audience Research Council system. A news network also approached the Delhi high court against the unfair practices by Republic TV to inflate their ratings.

Ratings manipulation

In October 2020, upon receiving a complaint accusing some channels of fraudulently inflating their viewership ratings, Mumbai Police launched an investigation into Republic TV's viewership ratings.[46] The police allege that the channel inflated its ratings by bribing low-income individuals, including people who did not comprehend English, to keep their televisions tuned to Republic TV; logs of WhatsApp chats between Goswami and the former chief executive of Broadcast Audience Research Council (the agency responsible for measuring TRP) were published to provide further evidence of collusion.[47] [48] [49] The inflated TRP was leveraged to bargain for higher revenues from advertisers.

Goswami denies the allegations and has accused the Mumbai Police of retaliating against the channel's recent criticism of their activities.[50] [51] [52] [53] [54] On 21 October, Central Bureau of Investigation got involved in the investigation, with the case now potentially covering every news channel in India.[55] [56] On 13 December, Republic TV CEO was arrested in Mumbai, before being granted bail.[57]

Fake news controversies

Claims of Pakistani support for the Taliban

After the Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021, Indian media (including Republic TV) started an aggressive anti-Pakistan campaign on social media calling for foreign sanctions on Pakistan. Republic TV in particular later aired footage of an alleged Pakistan Air Force airplane supporting Taliban troops in their fight against resistance forces in Panjshir. Some time later fact checkers including France 24 announced that it was a gameplay footage from a video game called ARMA 3.[58] [59]

Claims of a coup in China

In 25 September 2022, Republic TV used a sarcastic thread of German reporter Georg Fahrion to report on a "political coup" on Chinese President Xi Jinping in their news report as "First and Exclusive News" and Breaking News.[60] [61] The reports were taken down from Republic World's Youtube channel but got viral circulating on Twitter.[62] [63] When informed that his sarcastic thread was picked up and published as real news by Republic TV, Fahrion replied, "Since an Indian TV channel is now "reporting" on this thread, let me repeat: Two things are infinite, the universe and man's stupidity."

False report on Pentagon explosion

In May 2023, Republic TV aired a report about a supposed explosion near the Pentagon in the U.S., citing a tweet by Russian state media outlet RT. The tweet included an image generated by artificial intelligence,[64] which was originally posted by an account aligned with the QAnon conspiracy theory, and subsequently amplified by a verified account posing as Bloomberg News.[65] Republic TV subsequently issued a correction.[66]

Reception

Public

See main article: TRP scam. Republic TV allegedly became the most-watched English news channel in India in its first week of airing in May 2017 with 21.1 lakh (2.11 million) impressions[67] and accounted for 51.9 per cent viewership as per data released for the week by the Broadcast Audience Research Council.[68] [69] The Financial Express noted Republic TV to be the most-watched English news channel in India for 100 weeks in a row since its founding.[13] The top news channel spot was taken over by DD India, a public service broadcaster, in February 2019, according to the Indian newspaper Mint.[12]

The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) subsequently lodged a complaint with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India accusing the group of using unethical tactics for high viewership. It claimed that the channel ran multiple feeds over various multi-system operator (MSO) platforms and listed itself at multiple locations across various genres in the electronic program guide, in contravention of the telecom authority's rules.[70] [71] Telecom Regulatory Authority of India cautioned the channel against such practices and determined the viewership numbers to have been inflated.[72]

These data have been since further challenged, after the channel found itself embroiled in a viewership-manipulation scam around late 2020.

Critical commentary

The channel has been noted for its right-wing opinionated reporting[73] in support of BJP[74] and Hindutva across a wide spectrum of situations,[75] [76] including by presenting political opponents in a negative light and avoiding criticism of figures from ruling parties.[77] The channel has aided in developing and popularizing the neologisms of "Urban Naxal" and "tukde tukde gang" to denote anti-establishment voices critical to right wing sentiments, advocate government repression, and evoke hyper-nationalism among the audience.[78] [79] [80] Attempts to polarize the audience and quell communal tensions by direct and indirect amplification of Islamophobic rhetoric (Love Jihad etc.) situated within a post-truth discourse have been noted as well.[81]

The channel has been compared to North Korean media for its extreme pro-government affinity and muzzling of dissent.[82] [83] Noted political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot, journalist Dexter Filkins and others compare it to Fox News, an American cable news channel that practices biased reporting in favor of the Republican Party.[84] [85] [86]

Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, on Business Standard, noted it to be a "noisy, chaotic place where coherent debate without shouting, screaming and name-calling is impossible";[87] others have noted of its shows to be a "battle of babble", judgmental, brash and hawkish.[88] [89] [90] Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar, in a Foreign Policy article, noted its coverage of the 2019 India-Pakistan conflict, to put jingoism ahead of journalism.[91] Historian Ramachandra Guha notes it to be a pro-government channel, which ignored issues of joblessness, agrarian distress et al. and instead took to demonizing Pakistan along with opposition parties, furthering religious bigotry in the process.[92] Jaffrelot reiterated accusations of pliability after undertaking a detailed analysis of all debates held by the channel until April 2020 (and contrasting it with NDTV); he held the venture to have a negative consequence on India's democracy and raised concerns about the manner in which broader issues of socio-economic order were pushed away from the discourse-sphere. Fifty percent of the debates were solely focused on criticizing the opposition and Modi was extensively lauded all-around whilst not a single debate was construable as being explicitly in the opposition's favor.

Fact checkers have documented it to have propagated dubious news or fake news on multiple occasions.

Prime time debates

A study done by Christophe Jaffrelot and Vihang Jumle published in The Caravan showed that nearly 50% of the 1,136 political debates televised by the network between May 2017 and April 2020 criticized the opposition and none strongly supported the opposition. The authors concluded the debates were biased in favour of the Modi government.[93]

Owned channels

NameLanguageType
Republic WorldEnglishNews channel and portal
Republic BharatHindi
Republic BanglaBangla
Republic KannadaKannada
Asianet NewsMalayalam
Asianet Suvarna NewsKannada
Kannada PrabhaNewspaper
Asianet NewsableEnglishNews portal
Asianet News TeluguTelugu
Asianet News TamilTamil
Asianet News HindiHindi
Asianet News BanglaBangla

See also

Notes and References

  1. Srikrishna. Vasupradha. 1 September 2019. Neoliberal Media Making the Public Interest and Public Choice Theory Obsolete: Need for a New Theory. Media Watch. 10. 3. 10.15655/mw/2019/v10i3/49692. 2249-8818. free.
  2. News: Arnab Goswami gets candid: Was not even allowed to enter Times Now studio. Team. BS Web. 27 March 2017. Business Standard India. 1 November 2019.
  3. Book: Ayres, Alyssa. Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World. 5 December 2017. Oxford University Press. 9780190494537. 34, 81.
  4. News: Arnab Goswami's new venture. 8 January 2017. Business Standard.
  5. News: Arnab Goswami announces new venture; Times Now gets a new chief editor. Firstpost. 8 January 2017.
  6. Web site: 'Proud of all my partners': Arnab Goswami when asked about BJP influence in new venture. Venkataramakrishnan. Shoaib Daniyal & Rohan. Scroll.in. 27 April 2017. 14 November 2019.
  7. News: Arnab Goswami has announced his new venture 'Republic'. The Indian Express.
  8. Web site: Arnab Goswami changes channel name to Republic TV, gives in to Subramanian Swamy. https://web.archive.org/web/20170509062519/http://www.firstpost.com/india/arnab-goswami-changes-channel-name-to-republic-tv-gives-in-to-subramanian-swamy-3239754.html. 9 May 2017. Firstpost. 9 May 2017. 31 January 2017.
  9. News: What the Nation Wants to Know but Arnab's Republic Won't Tell You. The Quint. 2 September 2018.
  10. News: Kaushik. Krishn. Kerala NDA vice-chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar investor, director in Arnab Goswami's Republic. 27 April 2017. The Indian Express. 13 January 2017.
  11. Web site: Rajeev Chandrasekhar resigns as board director of Republic TV, says decision taken as he is now BJP MP – Firstpost. 2 April 2018. firstpost.com. 2 September 2018.
  12. https://www.livemint.com/ Arnab Goswami buys back Republic Media shares from Asianet
  13. https://www.financialexpress.com/market/arnab-goswami-buys-back-shares-from-asianet-republic-tv-now-valued-at-this-much/1569639/ Arnab Goswami buys back shares from Asianet; Republic TV now valued at this much
  14. News: Pande. Manisha. 20 October 2016. Asianet And The 'Independence' Of Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Newslaundry.
  15. Web site: Quint. The. 2020-12-13. Held in Fake TRP Case, Who is Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani?. 2020-12-19. TheQuint.
  16. Web site: Chitra Subramaniam joins Republic TV. 2020-12-19. news.rediff.com.
  17. Web site: Major Gaurav Arya collaborates with Arnab's Republic TV. newslaundry.com. 27 April 2017. 15 March 2017.
  18. News: Minhaz Merchant on Twitter. Twitter. 15 April 2017.
  19. News: Sen. Rajyasree. Anupam Kher's People a welcome break from the screaming jingoism of Republic TV. 24 May 2017. Livemint. 24 May 2017.
  20. News: Arnab Goswami's Republic first Indian news channel to air live on Hotstar. 6 May 2017. Business Standard. 5 May 2017.
  21. News: Kohli-Khandekar. Vanita. Arnab Goswami's Republic TV went live today; but why so much fuss over it?. 6 May 2017. Business Standard. 6 May 2017.
  22. Web site: World . Republic . 2023-09-01 . Arnab Goswami announces Republic Kannada, channel to go on-air 'very soon . 2023-10-07 . Republic World.
  23. Book: Thomas . Pradip . Radde-Antweiler . Kerstin . Zeiler . Xenia . The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Journalism . . 978-1-351-39608-0 . 30 October 2020 . 6 November 2020. Journalism and the Rise of Hindu Extremism . . Moreover, the blatant complicity of the ruling party and some news media in these crimes has resulted in a situation in which hate crimes against minorities and rationalists are justified and multiple signifiers circulated thus obfuscating the evidence for murders, ignoring the rule of law and replacing truths with multiple, manufactured discourses (see, for example, the outputs from Republic TV and India Upfront)..
  24. Web site: Duty, Identity, Credibility: 'Fake News' and the ordinary citizen in India. Santanu. Chakrabarti. Lucile. Stengel. Sapna. Solanki. 20 November 2018. BBC World Service. 6 November 2020. 87–88.
  25. Web site: Madan. Aman. 23 January 2019. India's Not-So-Free Media. 14 November 2019. The Diplomat.
  26. News: English news channel ratings: TRAI's intervention leads to decline in Republic TV's viewership. 12 June 2017. The Economic Times. 16 January 2020.
  27. News: TRAI rules against Republic TV's unethical distribution practices to boost ratings. The Times of India. 2 June 2017 . 16 January 2020.
  28. Web site: Agarwal. Cherry. 16 December 2017. Access denied: Republic TV and Times Now get blocked from Congress pressers. 14 November 2019. Newslaundry.
  29. News: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor files defamation case against Republic TV's Arnab Goswami. 26 May 2017. The Indian Express.
  30. News: Shashi Tharoor files defamation suit against Arnab Goswami, Republic TV in High Court. 26 May 2017. The Economic Times.
  31. News: 'Bring down the rhetoric', Delhi HC tells Arnab Goswami, Republic TV. 29 May 2017. The Hindu. 3 June 2017.
  32. News: Times Now files criminal case for stealing against Arnab Goswami of Republic TV. 17 May 2017. The Economic Times. 17 May 2017.
  33. News: Arnab Goswami faces police complaint for 'cheating' Times Now over Sunanda Pushkar, Lalu tapes. 17 May 2017. Daily News and Analysis. 17 May 2017.
  34. News: Times Group files criminal complaint against Arnab Goswami for IPR breach. Business Standard. 17 May 2017 . 18 May 2017. Team . BS Web .
  35. Web site: 16 November 2011. Regulation of media in India – A brief overview. 12 October 2020. PRSIndia.
  36. https://www.newslaundry.com/2018/09/08/nbsa-republic-tv-apology What the NBSA ignored in its Republic TV order
  37. Web site: Broadcasters Body Asks Republic TV's Arnab Goswami to Apologise For Misreporting. The Wire. 4 September 2018.
  38. Web site: After Kerala floods controversy, Arnab Goswami and Republic TV face another trouble. The Week.
  39. News: India's broadcasting regulator ordered Republic TV to air an apology, but it didn't. What happens now?. Nair. Veena. 15 October 2019. Newslaundry.
  40. News: No, Republic TV-led News Broadcasters Federation is not fighting 'Lutyens Media'. Seshu. Geeta. 31 July 2019. Newslaundry.
  41. Web site: What Happens When You Complain to a Broadcast Standards Authority about Republic TV?. 12 October 2020. The Wire.
  42. Web site: Bansal. Shuchi. 23 September 2020. The complex matter of TV news regulation in India. 12 October 2020. mint.
  43. Web site: Seshu. Geeta. No, Republic TV-led News Broadcasters Federation is not fighting 'Lutyens Media'. 12 October 2020. Newslaundry.
  44. News: Dev . Atul . Saxena . Nikita . The Curious Case of Republic TV's Ratings, and the Official Rating Agency's Blind Eye To It . 24 December 2020 . The Caravan.
  45. News: Is Republic Bharat flouting TRAI regulations for TRPs? . 23 December 2020 . Newslaundry.
  46. News: Ali. Ahmed. 15 December 2020. Republic's TRPs high from 1st month, used to get revenue: Cops. The Times of India. 23 December 2020.
  47. Web site: Phadke. Manasi. 2021-01-16. 'NSA, PMO hooked to Republic' – Arnab Goswami 'WhatsApp chats' give TRP scandal new twist. 2021-01-21. ThePrint.
  48. Web site: 19 January 2021. WhatsApp chats prove Arnab Goswami-ex-BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta collusion to rig ratings, says NBA . 2021-01-21. The Times of India.
  49. Web site: 'One must play dirty': Chats show how Arnab Goswami plotted with BARC CEO. 2021-02-15. Newslaundry.
  50. News: Jeffrey. Gettleman. Jeffrey Gettleman. Hari. Kumar. Shalini Venugopal. Bhagat. 9 October 2020. Indian Police Accuse Popular TV Station of Ratings Fraud. The New York Times. 9 October 2020. 0362-4331.
  51. Web site: 9 October 2020. Mumbai cops take first step in probe against Arnab Goswami's Republic TV. 9 October 2020. Hindustan Times. Manish K. Pathak.
  52. Web site: 9 October 2020. Republic TV CFO Summoned By Mumbai Police Tomorrow Over Ratings Scam. NDTV. Sunilkumar M. Singh. Divyanshu Dutta. Roy. 9 October 2020.
  53. Web site: Ramnath. Nandini. Why Big Bollywood has launched a potentially damaging battle against Times Now and Republic TV. 2021-02-15. Scroll.in.
  54. Web site: 34 Bollywood Producers Move HC Against Irresponsible Remarks by Republic TV, Times Now. 2021-02-15. The Wire.
  55. Web site: Tiwary. Deeptiman. Gokhale. Omkar. 21 October 2020. Twist in TRP case: UP Police file own FIR; case with CBI. 22 October 2020. The Indian Express.
  56. Web site: Gunasekar. Arvind. Jain. Sreenivasan. 21 October 2020. CBI Moves To Investigate Fake Ratings Case As Complaint Is Filed in UP. 22 October 2020. NDTV.
  57. News: Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani Arrested in Mumbai in Fake TV Ratings Scam . 13 December 2020 . NDTV.com . 13 December 2020.
  58. Web site: French media report exposes Indian fake news against Pakistan . 2 October 2021 .
  59. Web site: News channels report 'Arma 3' footage as real-life pro-taliban attack . . 9 September 2021 .
  60. News: Chowdhury . Archis . Republic Bharat Reports Satire Thread on China Coup As Breaking News BOOM . 28 September 2022 . boomlive.in . 25 September 2022.
  61. News: Gan . Nectar . China's Xi reemerges after trip abroad quashing unfounded 'coup' rumors . 28 September 2022 . CNN. 28 September 2022.
  62. News: Varma . Aishwarya . Republic Airs Sarcastic Twitter Thread as 'Exclusive News' on 'China Coup' . 28 September 2022 . TheQuint . 26 September 2022.
  63. News: Why were Indians so keen to believe social media rumours about Xi Jinping's 'ouster'? . 28 September 2022 . The Telegraph. India . 26 September 2022.
  64. Web site: Kristensen . Nikolaj . 26 May 2023 . The perfect storm of AI fakes and paid Twitter verification . 2023-05-27 . Logically.
  65. Web site: Collins . Ben . 2023-05-22 . Fake picture of explosion at Pentagon spooks Twitter . 2023-05-27 . NBC News.
  66. Web site: Thete . Rujuta . 2023-05-23 . Media Outlets Share AI-Generated Image as a Real Explosion Near USA's Pentagon . 2023-05-27 . The Quint.
  67. News: Ahluwalia. Harveen. 18 May 2017. Arnab Goswami's Republic TV topples Times Now in debut week: Barc data. Livemint. 18 May 2017.
  68. News: Republic TV has 51.9% viewership in debut week: BARCH gives data to paid subs despite NBAs request. indiantelevision.com. 18 May 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170518084905/http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/news-broadcasting/republic-tv-claims-52-viewership-in-first-week-barc-confirms-giving-data-to-paid-subs-170518. 18 May 2017.
  69. Web site: Dev . Atul . Saxena . Nikita . The Curious Case of Republic TV's Ratings, and the Official Rating Agency's Blind Eye To It. 5 December 2019. The Caravan.
  70. News: Agarwal. Nikhil. 15 May 2017. Arnab Goswami's Republic TV uses unethical tactics to push viewership, NBA petitions TRAI. India Today. 17 May 2017.
  71. News: Ahluwalia. Harveen. 16 May 2017. Arnab Goswami's Republic TV flouting rules, says NBA in Trai complaint. Livemint. 17 May 2017.
  72. News: 2 June 2017. TRAI rules against Republic TV's unethical distribution practices to boost ratings. The Times of India. 3 June 2017.
  73. News: Peeing Human is waging a war on 'Modia'. Here's how, and why. Verma. Ramit. 29 October 2019. Newslaundry.
  74. Web site: Here's why you will watch Arnab Goswami & Navika Kumar long after election results are out. Bajpai. Shailaja. 24 October 2019. ThePrint. 2 November 2019.
  75. News: Indian journalists got a chance to grill controversial MEPs touring Kashmir. They asked about Pakistan, western media. Pande. Manisha. 30 October 2019. Newslaundry. 1 November 2019.
  76. News: Bloodlust TV: Calling out India's hate media. Pande. Manisha. 21 October 2019. Newslaundry.
  77. Web site: Jaffrelot. Christophe. Jumle. Vihang. 15 December 2020. A study of 1,779 Republic TV debates reveals how the channel champions Narendra Modi. 2020-12-19. The Caravan.
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  79. Web site: On the run. Bajpai. Shailaja. 11 May 2017. The Indian Express. 17 May 2017.
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  85. Brash and bigoted: How Arnab Goswami changed India's TV debate. The Listening Post. Al Jazeera English. Meenakshi Ravi. 18 February 2020. 04:55-05:02. 18 February 2020.
  86. Book: Basu, Anustup. Hindutva as Political Monotheism. 2020-08-17. Duke University Press. 978-1-4780-1249-8. 246. Notes. 10.1515/9781478012498-007. j.ctv1595n6q. 242126858 . https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9781478012498/10.1515/9781478012498-007.xml.
  87. News: Arnab's Republic a reflection of what India has become- noisy and chaotic. Kohli-Khandekar. Vanita. 8 May 2017. Business Standard. 17 May 2017.
  88. Web site: Arnab Goswami's Republic TV is losing the battle of babble; why not try something completely different?. 27 May 2017. Firstpost. 28 May 2017.
  89. Web site: Why Court Dismissed BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Plea Against The Wire. The Wire. 2 November 2019.
  90. Web site: Debate: Why Arnab Goswami's Banana 'Republic' Also Needs to Have a Seat at the Table. The Wire. 14 November 2019.
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