@ || Arnab Goswami @WhatsApp , 5 key questions ||
In the ongoing investigation into the alleged manipulation of television rating points (TRP), the Mumbai police has submitted damning messages that were allegedly exchanged between Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) discussing ways to manipulate the ratings.
The WhatsApp chats running over 1000 pages suggest complicity between the two and are part of the 3400-page supplementary chargesheet that the Mumbai police filed earlier this week. The messages also show Goswamis proximity to the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and the information and broadcast ministry, also suggesting that he misused this access.
Even while the chargesheet focusses on the conversations between Dasgupta and Goswami, the Mumbai police have curiously not mentioned Goswami among those accused in the case. Dasgupta, on the other hand, is named as a prime accused in the scam and is already in custody, the 15th and latest yet to be arrested in the case.
At the time Dasgupta was arrested in late December 2020, the police claimed that he had been bribed to the tune of lakhs to manipulate Republic TVs TRPs. Dasgupta misused his official position and manipulated TRP of specific news channels broadcast by ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd such as Republic Bharat Hindi and Republic TV English, the remand notice said.
The messages also suggest that Goswami was in the know about key decisions that the Central government took, even those that were closely guarded. He seems to be aware of the Balakot airstrike and the revocation of Article 370 in advance, highlighting his close connections with the upper echelons of government.
The Wire has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the messages that the Mumbai police have annexed.
The TRP scam came to light in October last year, when BARC the primary body that publishes TRPs in India filed a police complaint through its associate Hansa Research Group, claiming that several news channels including Republic TV were involved in a TRP rigging scam. Eventually, employees from both BARC and Republic TV were named in the FIR. The Mumbai police is also probing the role of other channels like Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema, News Nation, Mahamovies, and Wow music channel for allegedly tampering and inflating their viewership numbers.
According to the WhatsApp chats, Goswami and Dasgupta, who were colleagues at the Times Group, discussed rival channels and expressed disappointment over those channels outperforming Republic TV. While Dasgupta reassures Goswami, the latter continued to express his displeasure to the then BARC chief.
https://thewire.in/media/trp-scam-wha...
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@ || Arnab Goswami @WhatsApp , 5 key questions || In the ongoing investigation into the alleged manipulation of television rating points (TRP), the Mumbai police has submitted damning messages that were allegedly exchanged between Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) discussing ways to manipulate the ratings. The WhatsApp chats running over 1000 pages suggest complicity between the two and are part of the 3400-page supplementary chargesheet that the Mumbai police filed earlier this week. The messages also show Goswamis proximity to the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and the information and broadcast ministry, also suggesting that he misused this access. Even while the chargesheet focusses on the conversations between Dasgupta and Goswami, the Mumbai police have curiously not mentioned Goswami among those accused in the case. Dasgupta, on the other hand, is named as a prime accused in the scam and is already in custody, the 15th and latest yet to be arrested in the case. At the time Dasgupta was arrested in late December 2020, the police claimed that he had been bribed to the tune of lakhs to manipulate Republic TVs TRPs. Dasgupta misused his official position and manipulated TRP of specific news channels broadcast by ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd such as Republic Bharat Hindi and Republic TV English, the remand notice said. The messages also suggest that Goswami was in the know about key decisions that the Central government took, even those that were closely guarded. He seems to be aware of the Balakot airstrike and the revocation of Article 370 in advance, highlighting his close connections with the upper echelons of government. The Wire has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the messages that the Mumbai police have annexed. The TRP scam came to light in October last year, when BARC the primary body that publishes TRPs in India filed a police complaint through its associate Hansa Research Group, claiming that several news channels including Republic TV were involved in a TRP rigging scam. Eventually, employees from both BARC and Republic TV were named in the FIR. The Mumbai police is also probing the role of other channels like Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema, News Nation, Mahamovies, and Wow music channel for allegedly tampering and inflating their viewership numbers. According to the WhatsApp chats, Goswami and Dasgupta, who were colleagues at the Times Group, discussed rival channels and expressed disappointment over those channels outperforming Republic TV. While Dasgupta reassures Goswami, the latter continued to express his displeasure to the then BARC chief. https://thewire.in/media/trp-scam-wha...