Media Effects in a Crisis
about the nature of communication in a crisis.
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.
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