Dear Times Now,
Let me say hello to you, all the way from Chennai. You might imagine that I'm smiling wide and waving, but that's where the cheerfulness ends. I'll tell you why.

Let me cut straight to the point. The News Hour show last night was one of the most disgusting spectacles ever on any news channel. This is a view shared by millions of people across the country. If you do not want to believe me, take a look at the top trends on twitter, which you often use to create certain trends yourself. Not that you are completely ignorant of this! You are, of course, very smart people. After all, you call all sorts of people to insult them on your show and surprisingly, they always come. If this isn't smartness, what is! But I'm pretty sure you've called for your own death this time.

As a leading news channel, the least we expect of you is basic decency. Too much to ask eh? See, we're not even asking for objectivity, since we all know that you threw that responsibility out of the window a long time ago!

Now let's get to the star of your show! Mr. Arnab Goswami- you think you are the pillar of discipline and the epitome of all that is right. Your methods of conducting the show have often been criticized for whatever reasons. Still, we can all agree that in many situations, you put straightforward questions to the right people. We can't grudge you that much credit even though the noise on the show is despicable and the way you refuse to let people answer such relevant questions is annoying.

Take a bow right now, because my admiration for you is about to expire.

Surely Mr. Goswami, you and your editorial team would agree that when it comes to cricket, you are WAY MORE knowledgeable than legends of the game like Sourav, Rahul, Sachin, etc. etc. Really, your opinion on the way our players play cricket is far more superior than people who have already been in their shoes! Which is why, when ALL of the cricketing world have praised the Indian campaign in this world cup, Your Highness is in your right to disagree!

Come on, man! We have clearly punched above our weight. We lost to a better team. HOW HARD IS IT TO ACCEPT THAT FACT? Disgrace is expected from uneducated people who haven't had the privilege of learning... not from highly learned people I'm sure Times Now employs.

We will NEVER question your right to criticize the team. Go ahead and point out the errors committed on the field. Kohli played it a little late, Raina played a loose shot... You get the picture, right?But kindly explain to me HOW IT'S DECENT REPORTING TO LET ARNAB GOSWAMI QUESTION THE INTEGRITY AND COMMITMENT OF THE TEAM AND THE CAPTAIN?

We are talking about a man who has gone more than a month with a happy face without seeing his newborn child, deeming it to be less important than representing the country. And there on your channel is an egotistic person who has no farting idea about cricket, sitting in an airconditioned studio and blithering like a baboon all over national television? Atrocious!

He asked why Ashwin was not introduced earlier in the innings- Last I checked, it counts as an OPINION. There is a reason Arnab Goswami isn't the captain of the Indian Cricket team. Right? How can he expect HIS OPINION to be the same as that of others, more so, the captain of the national team?

Thanks for asking truly pointless questions to which the Nation already knows the answer to. We already KNOW Mr. Loudmouth that we have a great cricket team, and you're just an ***-****.

Oh, and I don't know if you heard- the learned Mr. Goswami said AB De Villiers cried, and Dhoni did not- so therefore, Dhoni must not be passionate. I don't know if I should laugh at that or get even more wild.. please help me out here, Mr. Vivek Narayan! Since when did tears become a measurement for passion?

Your channel used words like "disgrace" and "humiliation" to describe the campaign. How many times have India won 11 matches in a row in World Cups? Never before? Does that tell something to your phenomenal observation skills? How many times have India bowled each opponent out for seven matches in a row? Never before? Does THAT tell you something? Maybe.. Probably?

You know what is the most infuriating thing in this? The players and the team WE LOVE will hear you spout such negative shit and assume that the people actually feel this way. Because you represent the "Nation", no? The Nation demands to know which is that Nation! Because it is certainly not the Nation that is SO PROUD of their cricket team, that it made the hashtag "ShameOnTimesNow" trend last night.

There is a reason that top cricketers and legends of the game do not appear on your channel. I'm sure you are aware. Arnab likes to invite panelists on whom he can steamroll his very sacred opinions on. He is a great talent, make no mistake. If there was an Olympic sport for shutting other people's mouth without letting them talk, and accusing them of not answering one's brilliant questions, India would have a Gold medal every single time. It can be found in the Times Now corporate office.

Here is a challenge to Mr. Arnab. Make Sourav Ganguly, Ravi Shastri, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar come on your show. SAY THE EXACT SAME THINGS YOU SAID LAST NIGHT. See where it goes.

Sadly, I am only a common man. A part of the "Nation". I would love to talk to Mr. Arnab about this. Enlighten him. If he would let me speak, of course!

I have taken a lot of time off my routine to write this letter to you, with the pure intention that your journalism can get a little more responsible. Not much more, because, trust me, the negative image you have generated last night is not going to be forgotten easily. And as is being said, Shame on Times Now.People tell me that these sort of things are said to increase TRP. I do not wish to believe that. If I did, I wouldn't be writing to you seeking an explanation.

You love asking for accountability... Let me see if you deem it worthy enough to respond to a Common Man of this nation. Let us see if you practice what you preach.

With much anger and a lot of disappointment,
A Viewer from Chennai

This open letter was written by Arvind Ramamurti originally and sent to Akkarbakkar. You can find the original, unedited version here. 

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