Goafest 2015: The journalism I follow is of opinion, Arnab Goswami

After an enthralling day one, day two began with the Times Network Leadership Summit which saw speakers like Arnab Goswami, Editorial Director & Editor-in-Chief, Times Now and Chetan Bhagat, Renowned Indian Author, Motivational Speaker and Youth Icon.

At the onset of day two, Goswami highlighted on how journalism has evolved over the last decade in India and he pleads guilty on a couple of fronts on his journalism. Goswami addressed a packed house on, News for New India. The session quickly managed to captivate the audience.

News for New India

Goswami shared his views on how the media in India runs. He mentioned about his old days in journalism when he was told that, never Express your opinion, because that is bad journalism. In deed we all know that there is good journalism and then there is bad journalism. But in a country like us, we have too much freedom when it comes to media and it is a good sign for the growing economy of the country.

He briefly touches upon the fact that there is journalism of opinion and he follows only the journalism of opinion. He doesn't believe in journalism without impact.

Sharing stories about how he evolved over the years, Goswami pleads guilty on  five  points with relevant examples. The first one being of playing stories up! He says, In July 2006 when Prince fell into an open bore well in Kurukshetra no one really bothered to cover it. It was we who went up there covered the event for four days till the operation was complete and Prince was out of the bore well. It is important that we highlighted that a sixty feet hole was not covered up and ever since that incident took place, and if someone ever fell in a pit like that, they ensured that it was taken care of immediately before the media reaches there. That is how important stories are. He pleads guilty of having made stories or sensationalized them because it is important for people to know the kind of incidents happening around.

Next he pleaded guilty about trying to be an activist. He was of the opinion that if fighting for something or for someone’s right is being an activist then yes he is someone who will always stand  for betterment of India. Thirdly, he pleaded guilty of being too involved in a story. It is only when one is deeply involved in a story then the truth comes out. He states examples of how all scams broke out in  six months time in 2010. Fourth, he pleads guilty to the fact that he doesn’t listen to the other side. He candidly says the only time I listened to the other side was with Rahul Gandhi. Lastly, he pleaded guilty that we don’t cover news that others cover. A debatable topic but at the end, it is on what stories you show and how others pick news from your story.

Goswami concludes by saying that there is nothing called as being neutral when you are in journalism.  It is either yes or no.

Working towards creating Change

While Chetan Bhagat shared his views on how today’s youth are becoming more of a mobile person and not giving importance to reading. It is not about creating the change, it is about being the change. They choose whether to read a book based on their topic and the availability of it online. Very few struggle to buy a book. He quotes one instance when one of his fans struggled to buy his book, and he finally got it at a railway book stall.

Bhagat also highlighted on how the youth today are choosing their mode of entertainment. He jokingly says that if one looks at the meaning of entertainment in the dictionary it means diverting the mind. So Entertainment could mean watching a movie with full concentration or it could also mean reading a book.

Overall he mentions that everything that he does, be it his writing, his movies, his speeches is all towards driving a change. Indeed the Leadership summit ended  on a positive note by thoughts of two eminent speakers from different backgrounds. By Archit Ambekar | Twitter: @aambarchit