S A Hariharan of Thanthi TV was one of Tamil news television’s star anchors. When he was offered a job at Arnab Goswami’s much-talked-about Republic TV, an English news channel that was launched on Saturday, he was hesitant because of his Tamil accent.

But Goswami was insistent because “we want journalists from all over the country, not just Mumbai and Delhi. Republic TV is about the emergence of a new generation of content creators,” says he. It is a point the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Republic TV emphasises while talking about how the channel will be ...