Goodbye Newshour? Watch Arnab’s Farewell Speech to Times Now Staff

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.

The video of his speech in the Times Now bureau where he is addressing the employees can be seen below.

He told those present that “the game has just begun and never lose faith in independent media.”

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.

Times Now correspondent Aditya Raj Kaul spoke to The Quint and said the “most exciting time for Indian media begins now. As he says, the game has just begun.”

Many in the fraternity who are referring to a mere departure as a demise do not know what he is capable of because of some strong principles and an everlasting zeal for hardcore journalism.

Aditya Raj Kaul, Times Now correspondent

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.”