Jamia media department boycotts Republic TV after shooting reportage, will not call channel for campus placements

Jamia Millia Islamia’s Mass Communication Research Centre has unanimously decided to “boycott” Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV from the placement process this year. This came after Republic TV ran a programme alleging that the person who had shot a student on Thursday was a Jamia student and an anti-CAA protester. The shooter was later identified as a resident of Jewar in the Greater Noida area of Uttar Pradesh, who sought to give “azaadi” to the students. While shooting, he shouted, “Yeh lo azaadi. Hindustan zindabad. Delhi police zindabad (Here is your azaadi. Hail India. Hail Delhi police).” Using wording ranging from “Protester turns violent” to “End the violence now”, the channel did its best to portray the gunman as one of the anti-CAA protesters at Jamia Millia Islamia. But after the shooter was identified as not being a Jamia student, Republic TV changed its stance to say that the protesters had somehow provoked the incident. The channel pushed this narrative through a hashtag on Twitter — #StopProvokingIndia. In retaliation, the same day, another hashtag trended on Twitter, asking people to ban Republic TV — #BanRepublicTV. [caption id=“attachment_7994611” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Graffiti on a wall at Jamia Millia Islamia. Firstpost/Ismat Ara[/caption] But according to Jamia students, calling for a ban on Republic TV on Twitter is not enough. They have decided to ban the channel’s representatives from attending the forthcoming placement drive at Jamia. “Initially, we had decided to invite Republic TV for the placement programme in college. We had sent a mail and had received a call back too. But at that time, we didn’t have a designated faculty member, so the process didn’t go through. But since we have seen the coverage of the [Thursday] incident, we have unanimously decided to not invite the channel now,” Sadaf Zarreen, a Master’s student of Mass Communication — who is one of the placement coordinators of the department — explained. She also added that one member of the placement team initially had reservations against the decision, but then after the incident on Thursday and Republic TV’s coverage of it, even he agreed to it. “We do not approve of the kind of journalism that Republic does. The placement team of our class, an extended team of 10 people, had already had this conversation before we talked to the whole class about it. We had also decided not to enforce this on anybody, if any student of the total 54 wanted the channel to attend, we would have sent an invitation. But then we got a heartwarming response from the class. People not only agreed to the idea, they even commended us for taking this call,” she further added. Harshita Anand, another placement coordinator from the Mass Communication department said, “Obviously, not calling a huge channel to our department, especially during a time of turmoil when a lot of companies are taking a step back from coming here for placements was a big decision. Companies that have come in the past are already not coming this year. So it was a big step. But then the other day, when a junior of ours was attacked and Republic TV misreported it, the amount of hate that the channel spread was too much. They called the shooter a student of Jamia and even a protester.” The student who had been hit by the bullet is Shadab Farooq, a student of Mass Communication. She added, “It would be unethical for us to go to them and work for them — completely against our morals. The least we can do right now is not call them to the university. Also I think Republic TV will be happy to know this because they think we are ‘anti-nationals’. So we stay away from them, and they from us. It’s the perfect equation.” The main courses offered by the Mass Communication Research Centre include Mass Communication, Convergent Journalism and Development Communication. Republic TV has, in the past, had students from Convergent Journalism, but this year, even students from this course have decided to boycott the channel. Rishabh Jain, the placement coordinator of the class, said, “We are students of journalism and we have been against the kind of reporting Republic TV does from the very beginning. How it targets students of universities, whether in JNU or Jamia, is a nightmare. After the events of 13 and 15 December, the channel launched propaganda against Jamia.” On 13 December, 2019, the students of Jamia were lathi-charged for trying to carry out a peaceful march from the university to Parliament to protest the CAA. And two days later, the police entered the university premises and beat up students without the administration’s permission. A student named Minhajuddin, who was not even part of the ongoing protest, lost an eye due to what the students call “police brutality” on campus that day. According to Rishabh, Republic TV tried to push a narrative calling Jamia students “goons” and “stone-pelters”. “Republic TV was not only trying to demonise us, but also trying to tell us not to protest and simply focus on our studies, as if Jamia students are not allowed to be political or take part in the political discourse.” Development Communication placement coordinator Paoni Patidar has also confirmed that the class of 21 people has unanimously decided against calling Republic TV to the placement drive. [caption id=“attachment_7994641” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Redacted screenshots of WhatsApp chats among Jamia students and placement coordinators. Image acquired by author[/caption] Shohini Ghosh, the director of the Mass Communication Research Centre, has decided to file a defamation suit against Republic TV for misrepresentation of facts and defamation. While talking about how she will personally write a letter to the country’s broadcasting council to file a complaint, she said, “The best way to do this is to do this is to pass a resolution on this decision, if the students really want this. I recently got in touch with the vice-chancellor and suggested that we shouldn’t just protest, but file a defamation suit against Republic TV for misrepresentation.” But it is not just the current batch of students who have raised objection to the kind of coverage that Republic TV does. Even former students of Jamia, who had been hired at Times Now via Jamia’s placement drive and then at Republic TV, have left the organisation owing to ideological qualms. A former Republic TV reporter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “When I started working there, I got to know that the work culture wasn’t conducive. People weren’t treated well. Untoward behaviour of seniors [were] trying to perpetuate only a certain kind of ideology. It was an everyday fight. A lot of people who had joined Republic TV initially have now left due to this reason.” He joined the channel when it was founded in 2017, and left the organisation within five months. Republic TV was co-founded in May 2017 by Arnab Goswami and Rajeev Chandrashekhar, then an Independent member of Rajya Sabha, and vice-chairman of the NDA in Kerala. Chandrashekhar resigned from the board after he officially joined the Bhartiya Janata Party in 2018 as a member. Zeeshan Khan, another former student of the Mass Communication Research Centre of Jamia had also joined Republic TV after working for Times Now. He was among the team of people that Arnab Goswami had carried forward with him when he left Times Now to co-found Republic TV. Talking about his experience at Republic TV, Khan said, “The university should really sue Republic TV. I will be very glad if that happens. The only reason I even joined Republic TV was because its package was attractive for a young person living in Mumbai. But I stopped going after a month, I didn’t feel like I could work there any longer. There was no one particular incident that triggered it. After working there for a month, I just saw that it wasn’t an ideal working environment.” Speaking about the recent coverage of Jamia’s Anti CAA protest, the former Republic TV reporter quoted above said, “The channel’s coverage was disgusting even by its own standards. Its standards of reporting are already pretty low — the lowest in the journalism that we see.” He added, “I am an alumnus of Jamia and I feel strongly about the cause. If the students have collectively decided to boycott the channel, it is a superb decision.”