Natural Disasters in India: A Comparative Study of Print Media’s Approach of Top Four English Dailies’ Coverage of Uttarakhand Floods, 2013
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556117735453 |
| Published date | 01 March 2018 |
| Author | Dhanashree Giri,Aman Vats |
| Date | 01 March 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
64(1) 73–86
© 2018 IIPA
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0019556117735453
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ipa
1 Research Scholar, Amity School of Communication (ASCO), Amity University, Noida, India.
2 Associate Professor, Amity School of Communication, Amity University, Noida, India.
Corresponding author:
Dhanashree Giri, Research Scholar, Amity School of Communication (ASCO), Amity University,
Noida, India.
E-mail: giridhanashree3@gmail.com
Natural Disasters in
India: A Comparative
Study of Print Media’s
Approach of Top Four
English Dailies’ Coverage of
Uttarakhand Floods, 2013
Dhanashree Giri1
Aman Vats2
Abstract
Print media plays a significant role during disasters as it is one of the most widely
used modes of communicating important information to the masses. Every media
has different agenda to highlight in such a scenario. While some media may
portray the devastation, others may expose the failures of the system. The article
pursues four of the most read English newspapers in India out of which three
are also local favourites of Uttarakhand, which are selected on the basis of their
readership, to examine how print media disseminated the news of Uttarakhand
floods 2013—whether it was playing an important role in awareness generation
and mitigation or it was concerned with only reporting situational information.
The authors use qualitative content analysis to map print media’s interventions
during Uttarakhand disaster in 2013.
Media framed most of the Uttarakhand flood stories by stressing widely
on the response and less often focusing on the level of preparedness of the
community. Most of the stories covered information related to rescue operation,
while very few stories concentrated upon awareness generation, mitigation and
redevelopment. Often the messages conveyed by the media pertain to ‘during-
disaster’ and ‘post-disaster’ phases. It is evident from this study that efforts of
media are least in educating people and disseminating information on disaster
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