Moreover, as we have established above, the misinformation about the gunman being a protester was repeated again.

Republic TV’s history of misinformation

“Misinformation” is a polite euphemism for running unverified “news”. Republic TV is no stranger to it.

Here’s a sample. Please note: this list isn’t exhaustive.

In May 2017, Republic TV claimed writer-activist Arundhati Roy had “abused” the Indian Army and launched into an “anti-Army” tirade”. She hadn’t .

In August 2017, Republic TV, based on social media posts alone, claimed that electricity had been cut in Jama Masjid because of non-payment of bills worth Rs 4 crore, even as Imam Bukhari “has money to buy luxurious cars”. BSES Delhi confirmed to Alt News that this was untrue .

In September 2017, the TV channel misquoted the Karnataka home minister as saying he would “probe Maoist link” to Gauri Lankesh’s murder. The state home minister had said no such thing .

In October 2017, Republic TV ran a story on Imran Khan being accused of sexual assault. He wasn’t .

In July 2018, Republic TV’s Shivani Gupta ran an “ exposé ” on how Sudha Bhardwaj was an “Urban Naxal” who was “plotting” against India with her fellow “comrades”. Based on rumours and unverified letters “allegedly written on the Communist Party India Maoist letterhead”, Republic TV announced Bhardwaj and others were “working in conflation with the ISI of Pakistan”.

In November 2018, Republic TV claimed the Congress’s manifesto for the Telangana Assembly election promised schemes “only for Muslims”. #MuslimOnlyCongress, the channel declared, detailing eight ways in which the Congress party’s manifesto allegedly practised “appeasement politics”. Sadly for the channel, it was a classic case of cherry-picking: their claims were incorrect .

On the personal front, Goswami said his car had been attacked in Gujarat while he was covering the 2002 riots. As Alt News pointed out , Goswami wasn’t even in Gujarat at the time and a photo that a Republic TV reporter had tweeted as “proof” was actually taken at a later date. Worse still, that particular incident had actually involved Rajdeep Sardesai, who even wrote about it in his book.

And let’s not forget: last year, Republic TV was directed to issue an on-air apology for a debate it had run in March 2019 that flouted the guidelines of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority. Goswami had essentially bullied a Muslim panelist to prove his patriotism by chanting “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. No apology was aired.

The companies that 'powered' Republic

Now, let’s circle back to the companies that “powered” Republic TV’s primetime segment that not only refused to accept the channel’s erroneous report, but also blamed the victims of the shooting.

In 2017, the American rightwing website Breitbart lost “ nearly 2,600 ” advertisers. Its former executive chairman, Steve Bannon — who found himself in, and then out, of Donald Trump’s White House — later admitted the website’s ad revenue had fallen 90 percent thanks to Sleeping Giants, a campaign which, among other things, tries to persuade companies to not advertise with media outlets it deems sexist, racist or bigoted.

Sleeping Giants was started by Matt Rivitz to alert advertisers whose ads appeared on Breitbart. According to this article , the campaign reportedly got 4,000 companies to stop advertising on the website.

Today, several media watchdogs are stepping up their game when it comes to advertisers powering this sort of news. Media organisations themselves are evolving; last week, the Guardian announced it would no longer accept advertising from fossil fuel companies.

India may not have a version of Sleeping Giants yet, but we got in touch with the companies that “powered”, in Republic TV’s words, the channel’s broadcast spreading vitriol. Holding these companies to account is important not just because of the channel’s so-called error in reporting on the Jamia shooter, but for its relentless targeting of Shaheen Bagh protesters, who mainly comprise women and children. Goswami has demonised them as “anti-India” and “anti-Hindu”, making them vulnerable to hate crimes.

We reached out to some of the brands that we spotted on Republic TV’s erroneous reportage and primetime spin on January 30. We asked them if such a presentation represented the values their brands stand for.

Saahil Anant, who handles public relations for MG Motor India, said his company relies on a third-party agency called Initiative to devise its advertising strategy. The agency bases its decisions on TAM reports which measure television audiences, he said, but the brand picks the channel and allots a certain number of hours to it.

They don’t, however, monitor the specific programme their advertisement airs on. “Really, the morals and ethics of it is outsourced to this agency,” he said. He directed Newslaundry to speak to a senior representative of the company who did not respond to our queries.

We also called Prashant Tandon, founder of 1mg, who asked us to call back later and, in the meantime, send an email with our questions. The story will be updated when we receive a response.

We sent an email and text messages to Dhananjay Kumar, spokesperson for Air India. He hasn’t responded yet. The case of Air India is important because it’s effectively taxpayers’ money that has been used to promote Republic TV’s content.

We also emailed Kumar Saurabh, chief business officer of Manyavar, who has not responded to our queries. Our emails to Honda, Eureka Forbes, and Star Health Insurance have not yielded responses so far either.

Newslaundry sent Goswami a detailed questionnaire but received no response.

With reporting inputs from Sakshi Rakshale.