This paper explores the media effects of a national crisis in India – the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC). The site located in one of the industrial cities of northern India suffered a major tragedy when poisonous gas fumes escaped from its storage tanks onto an unsuspecting city. The gas fumes killed many people and damaged the reputation of UCC abroad. This paper uses the dependency model of media effects to discuss the immediate effects of the Bhopal gas tragedy – how the entire Indian subcontinent and parts of Asia were affected by this tragedy. The paper explores the media effects model and then explains the crisis communications functions of the media using empirical evidence.

Crisis: Meaning and features

Grabner (1989) defined crisis as “natural or manmade events that pose an immediate and serious threat to the lives and property or to the peace of mind of many” (1989: 305).

A crisis is usually sudden marked by unpredictability and uncertainty. It has the power to effect large populations. Usually crises are national in nature where, people come together and share one common experience. But, the national crisis can spill into international waters. People having similar cultural heritages and geographic proximity can also be effect ted by a national crisis (Dinham and Sarangi, 2000). The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is one such case. It occurred in 1984 and was immediately consumed by the media. The entire city of Bhopal came to a standstill as people and poultry became targets of poisonous gas. Soon, the crisis spread to the whole of India as the crisis took on humanitarian proportions. Subramanyam (1988, 2000) says that the Bhopal gas tragedy is a major national and international crisis as it effected millions of people worldwide – (a) it crippled the reputation and future of UCC in Asia and Europe (b) it brought the diverse people of India together – people and authorities rushed to the aid of suffering workers (c) the news of the tragedy spread rapidly and was on every media outlet for a month. As soon as the gas fumes claimed their first victims, television coverage zoomed in and relayed the events of Bhopal live to a tense nation.

Theoretical Framework

Mass media plays an important part in the development and existence of society. To do this, it has to perform some pertinent functions. Society has to be viewed as a complex system consisting of interrelated units or components. This is a structure and within that structure, each unit performs functions for the maintenance of the structure. Mass media is one such unit within the complex system of society. As such it performs some important functions to further the development of society as a whole. This entire schematic view forms the popular theoretical focus of “structural functionalism’ (Merton, 1968).

These functions include those of news surveillance, correlation, socialization and entertainment (Lasswell, 1948, Wright, 1968). Media performs these functions of news gathering, compilation, news presentation and, news explanation everyday. It communicates to the people what is happening around them; in different sectors and spheres of society. It also provides explanations of news stories telling people how a particular news event or story affects them. Sometimes, media can overstep its boundaries and give too much information based on rumor. It can give rise to a “feeding frenzy and war nerves” where people are prone to overreacting inappropriately due to misinformation (Lazarsfeld and Merton, 1948).

Media also is the place to socialize and educate self about cultural values, heritage and norms. How do people know appropriate behavior and culture? The media carries forth cultural messages through its stories, editorials and pictures. In addition, people also see media as a diversion – a channel of respite and rest. But, during a crisis these normal functions of mass media undergo a slight change.

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy

During the early morning hours poisonous gas fumes were accidentally released into then atmosphere of the residential city of Bhopal. People woke up to a white cloud of poisonous gas and breathed in the toxic fumes floating in the air. Within minutes, ten million people were dead. Local news stations rushed into report on the event as it occurred. The state authorities were notified and massive evacuations started taking place. But, already more than 53% of the local population, comprising largely of workers and children had died. Many had choked to dearth — many had been trampled to death in the mayhem and panic which had ensued – cattle and poultry had died. Local news channels such as Marathi Samachar broke the news and began informing the local population of the tragic events. As daybreak broke out, major news networks began arriving in the city. The army had been deployed to help people evacuate the neighboring areas. Local, state and national authorities began coming in.

In all this, mass media played a critical role. The more important the event, the more rapidly the news of the event spreads. This is what happened in India at that time. On 3rd December, after houras of the tragedy during morning hours, reporters and news channels had already started relaying the happening to Indian public. National and regional newspapers such as Times of India, Marathi Smachar and Hindustan Times started printing information booklets to inform the people about every minute detail. News channels and radio began to broadcast live. By the time, evening bore down; the news of the tragedy had consumed media (Dawson, 1989). People could talk and think of nothing else. The humanitarian debacle was revealed to the world as symbols b became popular – photographs relaying the human tragedy were flashed across the news networks and the Internet. The time of the event also dictated the rapid diffusion of news as well as the media outlet used. Research shows that at four a.m. there was only one newspaper and TV channel covering the news – by nine am there were five national newspapers and ten national news channels covering the event but by afternoon, at three pm;. the number had swelled to 25 national newspapers, 30 regional newspapers and more than 35 news channels (Subramanyam & Singh, 2000). By evening, every news channel and network in India was covering the tragedy. People were kept informed by live reports as television anchors spoke live to reporters on-site. By next morning, the international news media had arrived. News of the horrific tragedy was flashed through out Asia, reaching even the countries of UK, Germany and France. The news of the tragedy consumed media. Normal TV programs such as local sitcoms were interrupted to broadcast and display live minute- by- by coverage of the aftermaths of the event (Sarangi, 2002).

This coverage carried on for six months after the actual event occurrence. Everyday new footage of bodies discovered in the rubble – press conferences by UCC spokesperson in its headquarters abroad and, the relief efforts of the Indian Government became the main and staple news diet of all Indians across the country (Singh & Subramanyam, 1989, 2000). The media set the tone for further news coverage. They set the agenda and framed the news – oscillating between hope, despair, outrage and helplessness. Thus media controlled the emotions and judgments of the public (Subramanyam & Singh, 2000).

The diffusion of news brought the people together. According to Sarangi (2002), media helped the people to form one common opinion and pressure state and national authorities to ask for humanitarian aid from the UN. Here, photos became a symbol of the immense human suffering and pain – the photo of a child buried in the rubble, the photos of dying cattle – videos of a mother trying to protect her baby from breathing the toxin fumes, an old man twitching to death as the fumes paralyzed his body and he collapsed to the ground, his tongue hanging out. These pictures became symbols and helped the country to rally together. Solidarity effects of mass media do bring about rally effects when people, rally around their leader, their flag and give support (Cosner, 1956, Mueller, 1970). Rally effects were also introduced due to lived media coverage of the tragedy. No matter where people lived, they were able to connect and see for themselves. It helped them overcome their own personal jealousies and grief and be united in one common shared experience and emotion.

Intervening variables

Radio became the mass media outlet for illiterate Indian people (Singh, 2000). According to survey research, radio was a common medium used by the lower class worker in India. People who held white=collar jobs, students and educated professionals were more to using television and reading newspapers (Singh, 2001). Similarly, students in technical colleges were likely to get their news from the Internet. This ties in with the viewpoint that socio- economic status and education level affects a person’s choice of media outlet (Peled & Katz, 1974).

The Model

The crisis and media coverage of it falls in line with the dependency model of media effects (Ball- Rokeach & DeFluer, 1976, 1989). This model is based on the principle of dependency. The [principle hold that “a relationship in which the satisfaction of needs or the attainment of goals by one part is contingent upon the resources of another party” (Ball- Rokeach, De Fluer, 1976: 16). In other words, this model states that the satisfaction of the needs and objectives of one is dependent upon the other. Mass media fulfills this dependency function. It serves functions of news diffusion, solidarity building which, in turn shape the emotions of another. In short, the emotions of people are contingent upon the resources and functions of mass media. The magnitude and intensity of emotion depends on how well and promptly the mass media performs its functions. Going back to the example of Bhopal gas tragedy, the Indian people as well as Asian people would have been unaware of the occurrence if media had not jumped in and reported the event. The tragedy would remain loc ally confined and, not taken on national and international proportions. As Ball- Rokeach and DeFluer have remarked “the potential for mass media messages to achieve a broad range of cognitive, affective and behavioral effects will be increased when media systems serve many… central information functions (1976: 7)

But, along with this power to control and affect people”s emotions and behavior comes responsibility. Media has to explain every bit of information (Hirschburg, 1986). National news networks ensured that every piece of information was followed by expert opinion and explanation during live coverage of the Bhopal gas tragedy (Singh, 2000). This ensured that people knew the reason for the tragedy, the culprits and what was being done. Media set the agenda for the news. It controlled and manipulated the cognitive and affective behaviors of the Indian people.

Conclusion

The dependency model can also be viewed as a model or condition of influence (Ball- Rokeach & DeFluer, 1976). In other words, the model holds that media’s coverage of a crisis influence public emotion and awareness of it. In other words, media has the power to manipulate crisis coverage to suit their own needs.

Bibliography

Peres, E, M. (2001) Media Effects and Society, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. Mahwah, NJ.

Dinham, B. & Sarangi, S. (2002). The Bhopal Gas Tragedy1984: The evasion of corporate responsibility, Environment & Urbanization, Vol. 14: 1.

Singh, S. & Subramanyam, A. (2000), Crisis Communication by UCC: Aftermaths of Bhopal Gas Tragedy, McMillan India Ltd.