Abstract
The 1984 Bhopal Gas Leak tragedy has been classified as one of the World’s major Industrial accidents of the 20th century, recorded post 1919, by a United Nations Report. This tragedy killed thousands of people and maimed thousands. Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant released approximately 40 tonnes of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas which went on to touch the lives of more than 500,000 people of the city. In a way, even after it immediately killed and maimed in thousands, it is still a continued disaster as the generations exposed to the toxic gases have been consistently showing up signs of physical and mental deformity. This gruesome event’s impacts on society are beyond time and space. The crucial question that renders is that how media dealt with the situation and to what extent it affects the everyday life of masses. This study came into initiation when the researcher visited the Methyl Ico-Cynate gas-affected area of Bhopal. During the pilot study, the researcher saw that people of the affected place were living in inadequate conditions. Thus, a concern piqued the interest of the researcher, and evoked an indispensible question: Is media fulfilling its responsibility as the fourth pillar of society in times of chaos and devastation, towards the public? For examining his queries researcher has taken renowned print media outlet’s articles of Bhopal gas tragedy as the content of the analysis. Hence on the basis of Hindi print media content of Bhopal gas disaster the researcher has taken the initiative to search appropriate answers to questions which examine the role of media after the tragic occurrence has taken place in society.
Highlights
Bhopal gas tragedy as world’s one of the worst industrial tragedy “ morning saw people walking up with burning eyes and lung disorder
The study aimed to evaluate two points 1) Was Hindi print media able to fulfill its status of a watchdog during the incident and aftermath the world’s worst industrial disaster?, and 2) to examine the theory of “social responsibility of media” in the context of Bhopal gas tragedy print media
The revelation of the nature and characteristics of print media representation in the context of the Bhopal gas tragedy was the central theme of this paper
Summary
Bhopal gas tragedy as world’s one of the worst industrial tragedy “ morning saw people walking up with burning eyes and lung disorder. The author conducted a comparative study of the print media coverage of two tragic events: Bhopal gas tragedy 1984 and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, 2000. Media of U.S.A drafted the news about Bhopal gas disaster in such a way that it took away the attention of the public from their responsibilities and gave a very causal description according to the lawsuits It indicated that American news media failed to fulfill their obligation towards the Indian society. The study aimed to evaluate two points 1) Was Hindi print media able to fulfill its status of a watchdog during the incident and aftermath the world’s worst industrial disaster?, and 2) to examine the theory of “social responsibility of media” in the context of Bhopal gas tragedy print media. Level of responsibility and satisfaction was measured as following i.e. Not all responsible/satisfactory (1-20%), Slightly responsible/ satisfactory (21-40%), Moderately responsible/ satisfactory (41-60%), Very responsible/satisfactory (61-80%), Extremely responsible/ satisfactory (81-100%)
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