In a News Hour discussion around comments by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and others that video proof of India’s surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir should be released, Times Now anchor Arnab Goswami launched a broadside against global media outlets CNN and BBC.
Pointing to comments by one of the guests on the show, JD (U) spokesperson Ajay Alok, that these news outlets were questioning whether the strikes took place, Arnab said, “Who the hell is CNN and BBC? Is the Indian Army accountable to CNN and BBC? I haven’t heard anything more ridiculous.”
Later in the show, in response to a question from another panelist, journalist and author Saba Naqvi, on whether media outlets like BBC and the Washington Post can be considered Pakistani propagandists, Arnab again hit out, saying that while persons like Saba may have an inferiority complex vis-à-vis the BBC and CNN, he didn’t.
He went on to call a report by CNN from one of the purported locations of the surgical strikes, as “childish, amateurish, poorly scripted, horribly presented”. “Not one single fact was there in that report. Not one single credible contact was made with the other side. There was absolutely no representation of views,” he argued.
Since the news of India’s surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) first broke, Arnab has been one of the most vocal news anchors taking a congratulatory stand towards the Indian Army and the defence and political establishment at the Centre. On Tuesday’s News Hour programme, he slammed Kejriwal, Sanjay Nirupam and others, who had asked for video proof of the strikes to be made public, for undermining the Indian Army and working in favour of Pakistan.
Watch the segments at 4.28 to 4.51 and at 35:55 to 38:51 of the video here: