Rahul Shivshankar

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Rahul Shivshankar
Secretary Pompeo Participates in an Interview with Rahul Shivshankar of Times Now (50538938826).jpg
Rahul interviews the former United States secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, in New Delhi, India, on October 27, 2020
Born (1975-01-22) 22 January 1975 (age 47)
Occupation
Years active1995–present
Employer
Notable credit(s)
India Upfront
Confront
Parents
  • Sudhir Shivasankar (father)
  • Asha Shivasankar (mother)

Rahul Shivshankar (Hindi: राहुल शिवशंकर) (born 22 January 1975) is an Indian TV anchor who works as the editor-in-chief at Times Now. Before joining Times Now, Rahul has worked as a print media reporter before joining TV. He has anchored five shows and has served as the Senior News Editor at Times Now (2005). Rahul worked very briefly with Headlines Today (since rebranded India Today) as the executive editor. He hosts the debate show India Upfront.[1]

Career[]

The Times of India[]

Rahul kicked off his career in the early 1990s as a print reporter, pounding the streets and then Delhi’s courtrooms for stories. He joined as a beat reporter for the Times of India two decades ago[2][3] and shortly thereafter accepted the role of lead writer.[4][5]

NewsX and Headlines Today (TV Today Network)[]

Prior to joining NewsX, Rahul led the newsroom of the Headlines Today, where he worked as executive editor.[4] He was part of the launch team of Headlines Today. Rahul used to host the 8 pm show, News Night on Headlines Today. In 2013, he moved to NewsX (ITV Network) as the managing editor and anchor and a year later was elevated to the editor in chief.[2][3] In 2014, the ENBA awarded NewsX as the "Best English News Channel of the Year." At NewsX, he has presented the shows Nation@9 and Insight.[5]

Times Now[]

Rahul has worked with Indian journalist and former editor in chief of Times Now Arnab Goswami.[6] He was a part of the team that launched Times Now.[7] Rahul joined Times Now as chief editor and senior vice president in the year 2016 after Arnab stepped down from the position of editor in chief.[8][9]

In June 2021, he was appointed editorial director by Times Network, where he also continued to lead the editorial mandate of the channel.[4]

Rahul currently hosts India Upfront, which is a debate show airs on Times Now at 8 pm[10][1] and bagged a gold at the 13th ENBA Awards for the Best Primetime Show (English).[11]

Besides India Upfront, Rahul also anchors four other shows, including The Breaking News Show and Live Report, and the one-hour weekend show Confront, which invites two panellists to debate on social and political topics concerning state issues, elections and the economy, and others. The show has featured Jay Panda, former Member of Parliament, Yogendra Yadav, National President of Swaraj India, Sudheendra Kulkarni, and Kanwal Sibal, former foreign secretary since its launch in 2018.[12]

Rahul writes a monthly column for the editorial page of the Times of India[13] and was invited to contribute to an anthology of condemnatory investigative narratives about an event published by Roli Books.[14]

Mr McAdams incident[]

In March 2022, a two minute video clip of one of his TV debates became viral on the internet.[15] While moderating a TV debate on the topic 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he kept yelling at one of the debate participants Bohdan Nahaylo, chief editor of Kyiv Post while calling him McAdams by mistake. During his conversation Shivshankar even suggested him to "take a chill pill" and accused him of having "colonial agendas". Nahaylo then responds that he doesn't want to relax as his country Ukraine was at war. Shivshankar continued berating the participant and shouted "If you are so concerned about Ukrainian... get off the fence and send your forces and put boots on the ground. Don't sit here and lecture us, Mr McAdams." Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute interrupted saying, "Its not me lecturing, it is the other guy". Shivshankar then asked the TV crew to "shut him down" after which McAdams said "Dear host, I have not said a word yet. I don't know why you're yelling at me." Shivshankar responded "I'm not yelling at you. I'm talking about Mr McAdams." McAdams replied, "I am Mr McAdams! and I haven't said a word, so stop yelling at me."[16][17] Shivshankar then apologised saying there has been a confusion to which McAdams said "There has been a big confusion".[18][19]

After the video went viral, many jokes and memes were shared in the social media. The word McAdams became a top Twitter trend in India.[17][19] Clarion India later asked McAdams about the incident. McAdams called the incident a comedy of errors in which someone mixed up the names of the two participants. The TV screen was not visible to McAdams who could only hear Shivshankar screaming at the person whom he thought was McAdams. McAdams admitted being angry about the whole incident, but found the viral clip hilarious.[20] Ron Paul Institute later tweeted that McAdams had become a 'meme sensation' and was asked by TimesNow to appear on his show again.[19]

Lawsuits[]

In 2020, the journalist Kanchan Srivastava filed a Rs 5 crore defamation suit against Rahul and Times Now's managing director Vineet Jain, accusing Rahul of defaming her by presenting her as "Rhea lobby" (supporter of the actor Rhea Chakraborty), on his India Upfront show.[21]

Mamata Banerjee's nephew and Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Abhishek Banerjee lodged a case against Rahul for allegedly telecasting a 'defamatory' audiotape about him on Times Now news channel.[22]

Reception[]

According to a BBC News article, several Indian news anchors including Shivshankar are known to shout down their panelists and ranting during their show, and have been accused of bias towards India's governing party, Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[19]

In 2020, Newslaundry reported that Shivshankar had used several dog whistles to negatively portray the Indian Muslims.[23]

Violation of Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards[]

In 2021, the National Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) found that debates by two Times Now anchors – Rahul Shivshankar and Padmaja Joshi on the topic 2020 Delhi riots were not conducted in an "impartial and objective manner". NBDSA found that the anchors had "violated the Fundamental Principles as enumerated in the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards and various Guidelines issued by NBDSA". In his order NBDSA chairperson Justice (retired) A.K. Sikri directed Times Now to take down videos of from YouTube and websites. NBDSA had ordered this responding to the complaint filed against Shivshankar accusing him of selectively showing the observations of the courts and the police to make it appear as if the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protestors were responsible for the religious violence. The order quoted, "The coverage was done to target a community that is critical of the Delhi Police’s investigation and project them and their critique in a negative light, thereby unduly hindering the right of the viewer to have a fact based view on the matter and amounted to a sustained campaign to challenge a position, without intimating to the viewers what that position is in its entirety or allowing panellists to explain the same".[24]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "I am not a one-hour debate marathon man: Times Now Chief Editor Rahul Shivshankar". Best Media Info. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  2. ^ a b "Rahul Shivshankar to replace Arnab Goswami as Times Now Editor-in-Chief: Reports". Mid Day. 22 November 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Rahul Shivshankar quits NewsX, sources say he will replace Arnab at Times Now". The News Minute. 2016-11-21. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  4. ^ a b c "Times Network promotes Rahul Shivshankar to Editorial Director, Times Now – Exchange4media". Exchange4media. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  5. ^ a b "Powerful Voice". Pressreader. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  6. ^ "Rahul Shivshankar to replace Arnab Goswami as Editor-in-Chief of Times Now: Reports". The Indian Express. 2016-11-22. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  7. ^ "Rahul Shivshankar Joins Times Now as Editor-in-Chief". The Quint. 2016-11-24. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  8. ^ "Times Now elevates Rahul Shivshankar as Editor-in-chief". Best Media Info. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  9. ^ "Rahul Shivshankar To Replace Arnab Goswami At Times Now". Businessworld.
  10. ^ Singh, Sidharth; Hasan, Yusra (30 August 2021). "Know Your TV News Panelists: The professor and the punching bag". Newslaundry. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  11. ^ "Exchange4media news broadcasting awards 2020 in India winners list". e4mevents.com. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  12. ^ "Times Now launches 'Confront' with Rahul Shivshankar - Exchange4media". Exchange 4 Media. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  13. ^ "Rahul Shivshankar". Times of India. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  14. ^ "Rahul Shivshankar – Times of India". The Times of India. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  15. ^ NEON, Quint (3 March 2022). "Hilarious Clip of Rahul Shivshankar Scolding the Wrong Guest on Live TV Is Viral". TheQuint. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  16. ^ Team, N. L. (3 March 2022). "Je suis Mr McAdams: Rahul Shivshankar scolds the wrong panelist before realising his mistake". Newslaundry. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  17. ^ a b Staff, Scroll (3 March 2022). "'I am Mr McAdams and I haven't said a word': Times Now anchor's gaffe inspires meme makers". Scroll.in. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  18. ^ "Shivshankar McAdams part 2 Times Now". Twitter. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  19. ^ a b c d "'I am Mr McAdams': TV anchor Rahul Shivshankar yells at wrong man on Ukraine live". BBC News. 4 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  20. ^ Parvez, Behzad (3 March 2022). "Times Now Anchor's Faux Pas: US Expert McAdams Calls it 'Comedy of Errors'". clarionindia.net. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  21. ^ "Times Now's Rahul Shivshankar, Vineet Jain get defamation notice from journalist". Newslaundry. 1 December 2020. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  22. ^ Upadhyay, Sparsh (2021-06-28). "Calcutta HC Directs Rahul Shivshankar To Appear Through VC Mode In Probe Over 'Defamatory' Audiotape On Abhishek Banerjee Run By Times Now". Live Law. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  23. ^ S, Meghnad (3 June 2020). "When Rahul Shivshankar used Black Lives Matter to bash Muslims, as usual". Newslaundry. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  24. ^ "Two of Times Now's Debates on Delhi Riots Were Not Impartial, Objective: NBDSA". The Wire. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2022.

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