How Arnab Goswami & Times Now got a ‘cease and desist’ notice from The Wire

Accusations and counter-accusations in #TheWireTimesNowRow (we can come up with hashtags too) don’t seem to be ending. Early last week, The Wire and its founding editor and publisher Siddharth Vardarajan issued a cease and desist notice to Times Network stating that, “…Mr Goswami and Times Now had vilified Siddharth Vardarajan and The Wire on air and on social media networks like Twitter.”

For the uninitiated here’s the sequence of events leading up to The Wire’s notice.

1) On February 17, Arnab Goswami asks Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra to show the video of Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union President Kanhaiya Kumar allegedly raising azaadi slogans. “Show the video,” Goswami says to Patra about seven times.

2) On February 19, India Today along with forensic experts analyses the same video, which was also doing the rounds on social media, and reports that it is doctored.

3) On the same day, The Wire carries an article calling out Arnab Goswami of Times Now, among others channels, for misleading viewers by playing the doctored video.

4) By the evening, Times Now hits back. An immediate clarification and apology is demanded from Varadarajan.

5) The Wire puts out a note at the end of the article saying that “Arnab Goswami has clarified that a BJP spokesman, Sambit Patra, sought to play the clip on his iPad during a debate.” It removes Times Now’s name from the article.

6) The next day, February 20, The Wire publishes another article criticising Arnab Goswami for giving wrong information. It says that it now had proof that Times Now did air the video and that it had removed the channels reference from the article because it trusted Goswami’s word.

7) The Wire sends legal cease and desist notice to Times Network for its “unacceptable and unprofessional conduct” and demands a public apology within 48 hours.

It’s been well over 48 hours and Times Now hasn’t apologised publicly. In a phone conversation with Newslaundry, Varadarajan told us that he has reserved the right to take action. “If they repeat the allegations, we will take action.” He added that the channel and the anchor ought to apologise to The Wire.

Times Now has not responded to The Wire’s notice yet. We reached out to the channels’ editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and asked him what he thought of the notice. We also asked him if the channel would take down the Newshour video that has Patra playing the doctored clipping now that there are doubts around it. Goswami has not responded to our queries. We will update this report if and when he chooses to reply.