Controversial TV anchor Arnab Goswami to launch ‘nationalistic’ new channel – but it won’t be the Fox News of India

India’s most brash and controversial television news anchor Arnab Goswami, renowned for his hectoring style, is about to launch a new channel and he’s unapologetic about what viewers should expect.

“I’m patriotic and nationalistic and so will the channel be,” the 43-year-old tells AFP in a mellow tone drastically different from his manner on-screen where he regularly shouts at guests.

Goswami – known simply in India as “Arnab”, such is his celebrity status – will launch “Republic TV” within the next fortnight, six months after quitting Times Now where he hosted a nightly news show.

The journalist is adored by many Indians for his jingoistic, anti-Pakistan views but is equally loathed by others, often on the left, who accuse him of noisily trumpeting a right-wing agenda.

Commentators also criticise him for promoting a biased approach to covering news, but Goswami is unrepentant, rejecting any notion that journalists’ reporting should be balanced and impartial.

“When a Pakistani terrorist group kills my soldier, I shall not try to look at it through this distilled lens of objectivity and say I must understand the perspective of the militant terrorist and call him a militant or a gunman,” he said.

“I would say he was a terrorist and he has killed my country’s soldier. If that violates a few rules of journalism then I would like to violate a few more rules of journalism. I don’t believe in this fake objectivity. I’m an Indian and I will be on the side of India.”

The Oxford University graduate started his career at the Kolkata-based Telegraph in 1994 before joining NDTV. In 2006 he help set up Times Now where he anchored The Newshour before leaving in November.