So what does TRP Scam investigation mastermind Sachin Vaze’s arrest mean for the Indian broadcast industry?
Just as Vaze's arrest doesn't mean he's guilty until proven, charges against others are also suspect
When the news on Mumbai Police Assistant Inspector Sachin Vaze’s arrest came in on Saturday, March 13 evening, there was some sense of relief amongst those following events of the last fortnight. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency of the central government, and there was an urgent need to investigate the bomb threat outside the Mukesh Ambani residence in South Central Mumbai. Yes, it’s the NIA and not the Mumbai Police or the ATS. Earlier in the week, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had said this of Vaze’s name surfacing in the case: Sachin Vaze was no Osama Bin Laden. Indeed.
Vaze has been in the limelight ever since Mumbai Police Commissioner spoke about Republic TV's involvement in the TRP scam in early October 2020. From then on, there has been hectic activity on the case. It started with the arrest of Republic Media Network Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami. But Goswami was not the only person taken to jail. Republic TV Group CEO Vikas Khanchandani, distribution honcho Ghanshyam Singh, former BARC Chief Operating Officer Romil Ramgarhia and Partho Dasgupta, former CEO of BARC India. WhatsApp conversations between Dasgupta and Goswami and various others in the BARC fold were included as part of the chargesheet where Vaze played a huge role.
Vaze, for those not in the know, has had a chequered past. But he’s known to be one of the smartest, technologically aware cops in the Mumbai police. He was arrested in 2004 in the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case, in which the trial is still on. His arrest on Saturday happened some 10 months after he resumed duty with Mumbai Police. Earlier, he had a brief stint in the Shiv Sena, the party headed by Chief Minister Thackeray.
Vaze is no Osama. Of course. Until proven guilty, he’s not a convict. In fact he coudl be innocent. That’s also the case with Goswami, Dasgupta, Khanchandani, Ramgarhia, Singh and various others. Except that in the case of those targeted by Vaze, the cop found the media - all opposed to Republic TV - giving the case more coverage than what has been accorded to similar events. In fact on the day when Dasgupta was released, the news on it was the top story in the first ‘news digest/briefs’ column of The Times of India Mumbai edition. TOI’s interests in the matter are understandable. It’s sibling media entity Times Now suffered the most after the entry of Republic TV. And if some of what is made out to be is true, Times Now suffered materially thanks to ratings being
Republic TV has been fairly open in its support of the Bharatiya Janata Party and all that the party stands for. And hence, the BJP’s enemy is also its enemy. No marks for guess that the Shiv Sena, the Congress (Vadra Congress, as Republic likes to pathetically call it) and the NCP weren’t friends of the channel.
But we are digressing. What happens now to the TRP Scam investigation? Will Vaze’s arrest and the fact that the central government-managed NIA is now handling the case mean that all will be back to normal (or abnormal) in the television news broadcast sector?
And what will happen if and when Vaze is released from jail. Will the TRP Scam investigation happen with the same gusto?
Will this trading of charges between senior media industry honchos ever stop? Will we see ratings coming out from BARC that everyone trusts?
The answer annoyingly is not something that the media ecosystem can do little about. They’ve become pawns in system.
The broadcast media system has played into the hands of the politicians and now has to suffer thanks to that.
Play with fire. Be ready to not just face the heat, but get burnt and bruised.