MUMBAI: On a day which saw Network18’s founder Raghav Bahl announce his exit from the group he founded, netizens took to twitter to express themselves.
Nimbus Sport promoter Harish Thawani lucidly put it in his tweet. “Sad to see Raghav Bahl leave the pitch. 1 of the original band of Indian pros turned entrepreneur. Inspired us & made all of us proud.”
Bahl’s close associate and CNN-IBN editor in chief Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted: @Raghav_Bahl a visionary leader who built a great network. And gave the freedom to journalists to stay true to the profession.
Rajdeep’s spouse and CNN-IBN prime time anchor Sagharika Gose who hosts the show, ‘Face the People’ called Raghav both encouraging and a dreamer tweeting, “Salute @Raghav_Bahl deeply committed to excellence, always encouraging, both dreamer and doer, you built a formidable network”.
The network which has seen many high profile exits, both at the editorial and managerial level, had former CNN-IBN anchor and deputy foreign affairs editor Suhasini Haidar tweeting, “Founders of Network18 @Raghav_Bahl and @kapur_ritu announce their exit from all channels. As their farewell note says “God Bless Network18”
Sports journalist Gaurav Kalra who quit Network18 earlier this year to become senior editor of ESPN Cricinfo had this to say. “as he exits network 18, my sincere gratitude to @Raghav_Bahl for giving so many of us a platform to work freely, without fear or favour.”
Rajdeep’s former colleague and NDTV group editor Barkha Dutt came out in support of Mukesh Ambani’s acqusition of the Bahl media empire. Said she in her tweet: “Globally too Big Media models built on money from State or Corporates. (Think Al Jazeera, NBC, or SKY). What’s important is disclosure.”
Her colleague at NDTV and Mumbai bureau head Sreenivasan Jain was not as accepting. He expressed his angst about the development. He tweeted: “Buying news channels is not like buying a shale gas field. Needs assurances – internal and public – of safeguarding of editorial freedoms.”
He further went on to punch the following tweet to twitter: “The question is not simply of corporate ownership of media. It’s the manner and circumstances in which ownership changes hands.”
Economist and well known columnist Ajit Ranade tweeted, “Across his Network he ran a “reform agenda” blitzkrieg in run-up to elections. Now, he’s saying goodbye.”
Senior journalist and commentator Madhvan Narayanan decided to remind us of where it all started. His tweet read: “Raghav Bahl quits Network18 after selling the media empire he founded about 20 years ago to RIL. 18 = Number of people in his startup team.”
But providing the icing on the cake was twitter fanatic Ramesh Srivats – he of the shiny pate – who in his inimitable style made us smile even at a time of glum faces at Network18 following a rash of departures and exits. Tweeted he: “Raghav Bahl exits Network 18. I thoroughly empathise with the network. I also have no Bahl.”
