So Arnab Goswami is back and with him, the unquenchable thirst of the “nation who wants to know.” Recently Arnab’s ‘Republic’ made a debut on social media by making its first tweets about the nature of his new media house, its mojo and asking people for support towards his endeavour. Loud, arrogant or whatever you may call him, this new channel is going to have more of everything that was quintessentially Arnab at the Times Now. With him stating that he aims to ‘redefine the brand of journalism’, people are curious about what’s going to be in store.
“The nation wants to know! We are now live on social. Until we hit your screens, track the revolution here! #RepublicOnSocial,” read the first tweet made by the republic handle. Another tweet asked people to track the facebook page of ‘Republic’, also making its debut. With Arnab’s vocal chords presumably even louder this time, the tweets give an insight into what it’s going to be like. “We are on the brink of shaking up the system all over again.” This was followed by a series of Tweets which called Republic as a ‘people’s movement’ and ‘India’s first independent news channel’. In less than 24 hours, Republic attracted over 55k followers and the count is growing every passing hour. There was also an unusual tweet from Twitter India that raised many eyebrows. “Welcome to Twitter, @Republic! We are happy to be your microphone to the Nation & World,” wrote the micro-blogging site. Many raised questions as to when did Twitter start welcoming a new entrant. Not to mention the expected trolling. From jokes about noise reduction techniques to word play with ‘nation wants to know’, there were many interesting observations.
With the news hour viewership far surpassing its competitors, bringing in over 60 per cent revenue for Times Now, the republic might surely do great given Arnab’s ardent fans as well as those liking his style of journalism. With more of opinion oriented journalism rather a fact-based one, it surely attracts viewers who prefer news along with flavours of spice, drama, action and controversy. With rumours about a launch date for the channel being Republic day, the intriguing social media campaign has garnered many followers eager to witness the one-man-showmanship yet again.
