When the Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer found himself being barraged with unpleasant US media questions at his first press briefing today, he called upon Pakistan-obsessed Indian-American Raghubir Goyal to ask a question.
Goyal has been at the White House for over a decade. In 2002, the Washington Post said that Goyal can always be relied upon to "ask about the perfidies of Pakistan". His coverage of Pakistan reflects the Indian media's malice toward Pakistan.
"The ability to change the subject is an important tool for the press secretary." George W.Bush's White House Press Secretary Joel Lockhart admits to using a foreign reporter as a foil. But his favorite foil was familiar to all: "If you're in a jam, go to Goyal," he says, according to Washington Post's Dana Milbank.
National Public Radio veteran news anchor Robert Siegel has described him as "editor, publisher, in fact, the entire editorial staff of the India Globe, which he describes as a very small circulation weekly that targets Indian communities in the United States".
Washington Post's Dana Milbank says Goyal, often described by reporters as the Goyal Foil "almost invariably asks about what sort of terrible thing Pakistan has done in the last 24 hours. So--and because of the obvious sound of his name he became the `Goyal Foil.'" Here's a full excerpt of what Milbank wrote in Washington Post about the "Goyal Foil":
"There's a whole bunch of foils in the White House press corps. There's characters from talk radio and all these specialty publications. Goyal is the most intriguing of them all, I guess you'd say, because he is very dedicated to getting a seat right up front at each and every event, and he almost invariably asks about what sort of terrible thing Pakistan has done in the last 24 hours. So--and because of the obvious sound of his name he became the `Goyal Foil.'"
American media know the press secretary's tactics well and, when Goyal is asking his question, they see it as "a convenient cutaway point for CNN and other broadcasters who are carrying the briefing live", according to NPR's Siegel.
It seems that Indian reporters' obsession with Pakistan is now an open secret in Washington, a fact that most likely contributes to hurting the credibility of the Indian media in the United States.
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