I was just informed by my friends in the legal circles that Delhi HC has issued a notice (copy of notice available with us) to Arnab Goswami’s company in the matter of copyright infringement alleged by Times TV.
Since most of my readers would be well aware of this case and the issues preceding this notice today, I will cut straight to matters that are of more significance to media watchers like yours truly.
It is now obvious that Arnab Goswami is firing on all cylinders and for some strange reason wants to embrace a whole bunch of legal cases, well before the fate of his channel is decided by the public and it’s advertisers.
Interesting strategy if you think of it, since he has been consistently in the media glare ever since his announcement of the venture; In fact, he has been at the receiving end of millions of rupees of free media coverage. No PR agency would have been able to pull this off, irrespective of the money it got for it’s services. Every columnist ( me included ) in the trade has been writing about his antics and the action around it. Social media timelines are in any case full of AG and his bold red avatar all over.
Interesting to say the least and I must congratulate him for this coup of sorts and all without spending a pip! Now, its a different matter that a lot of this coverage hasn’t been particularly kind to him and his breed of journalism but that is always debatable.
He has a knack of being ‘ in your face’ and till now, it was all about news and news stories but has now transgressed to marketing and brand building for the channel. There is something about him that gets you to write furiously about. Good, Bad, Ugly, whatever but we all do sit up and take notice and then hit our keyboards frenetically!
Coming back to the crux of the matter and that being the future of the channel, I am curious to see where all this controversy will lead. Cases and defamation suits are pretty much part of the media world and a journalist like Arnab isn’t going to be intimidated in a hurry, no matter how many times, he has to leave his studio and appear at a court.
But till now, he was only an employee and the onus of the case would have been most often his company, at least in the civil matters.
Suddenly the situation is different now and he is involved both as the journalist and the company, in view of him being among the principal shareholders / Directors. This roughly translates to being stuck ‘in a lot of muck’ to say the least! I do hope this has dawned on him by now.
Having had years of experience in dealing with such matters that ranged from civil to criminal suits for defamation etc, I can tell you that the burden of legal cases can be exceedingly painful as they drag on well beyond expected duration. To add to this, the severe drain with respect to legal fees and costs each time. The bigger the counsel, the higher the expense and when you deal with large companies, you have no option but to hire the best to represent your interests. The persona of the counsel in itself, has a huge bearing on the seriousness with which the matter is looked at.
But that is Arnab’s problem..
I have only a few questions to ask our fraternity in the light of all the controversy around Republic TV; questions that matter to you and me and the advertising world that powers revenue/survival for media brands.
- Will advertising thrive on such controversy ?
- Do consumers buy when they are all wired up and far from relaxed consuming the medium in question ?
- Would brands be sensible in putting money behind any man and firm that may be embroiled in legal and other complications from the word ‘go’ ?
- Is it time to do a reality check to see buying patters and how the mediums influence them, Cognitive neuroscience may have a lot of answers to this.
- Neuro-marketing studies have proved several times over that buying and consumption happens most in a relaxed state. Do we still believe that the brain is of no consequence?
- Is TV news a medium of inducing consumer buying at all?
Am afraid I have very few answers to these questions myself but do retain my conviction and belief in cognitive neuroscience and it’s application to marketing and sales.
I rest my case.
#Views expressed in this column are the authors and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.
Jd also consults in Consumer Neuroscience and Neuromarketing, both of which are integral to his brand interventions.
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