BOOM went through the purported chats between Republic TV's Arnab Goswami and former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta, and found their conversation transgress several ethical and professional boundaries.
'Great Friend' Smriti Irani And The Landing Page Issue
In their chats, Goswami described Union Minister Smriti Irani as a great friend. Dasgupta suggested that Goswami speak to Irani and get her to stop the primary data of television ratings collected by BARC to be made available to broadcasters.
Getting Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's Help
In 2017, when the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting received a complaint against Republic TV of illegally exploiting DD's DTH service, Arnab Goswami wrote to Dasgupta that 'Rathore told him that he's keeping this aside', with Rathore presumably referring to then-Union Minister of State of I&B.
Lobbying For A Job At The PMO
Shortly after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Dasgupta requested Goswami to use his proximity to the Prime Minister's Office to get him a 'media advisor kind of position'.
Trolling And Shared PR Tactics
The chats revealed that Dasgupta and Goswami conspired against rival channels like India Today and coordinated PR strategies together. They also discussed the possibility of getting India Today anchor Rahul Kanwal trolled on social media.
Mutual Dislike For Rajat Sharma
Furthermore, the duo also discussed their mutual dislike for news anchor Rajat Sharma, who leads one of Republic TV's rival channels India TV.