American International Journal of Available online at http://www.iasir.net Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences ISSN (Print): 2328-3734, ISSN (Online): 2328-3696, ISSN (CD-ROM): 2328-3688

AIJRHASS is a refereed, indexed, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary and open access journal published by International Association of Scientific Innovation and Research (IASIR), USA (An Association Unifying the Sciences, Engineering, and Applied Research)

A comparative analysis of floods among newspapers

R. Venkatesh Aravindh Doctoral Research Scholar, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Periyar University, Salem, TN, – 636011

Abstract: Print media has had been a part of everydaylives of the people especially in a country like India. Print media also has been at the foreront of various issues and events. The newspapersplayed a vital role in bringingseveral issues to the forefront and serves a variety of purposessuch as awarenesscreation, information dissemination. Kerala is a state thatisoftencreditedwith high literacylevels. Kerala wasravaged by whatwasdescribed as the worstfloodsever in a century. The currentresearchstudy explores the coveragegiven to Kerala floods by the Malayalamnewspapers. The researchstudyadopts quantitative researchapproaches in the form of content analysis to meet the objectives of the researchstudy.

Keywords: Print media, Newspapers, Coverage, Content analysis, Kerala floods,

I. INTRODUCTION A. Origin of the Press in India Gangadhara Bhattacharya and Harchandra Ray launched apaper from Kolkata Bengal Gazette (1816) in Bengali. It was the first Indian newspaper inIndian languages. Samachar Darpan weekly (1818) started for the first time in Bengali, whichbrought in ‘Indian Commerce’ among the other topics. At the First World War time a remarkablegrowth in the circulation of newspapers was witnessed. The period also witnessed a keencompetition in the middle of foreign manufacturers and the Indian manufacturers.

B. History of Print media in Kerala The first Malayalam newspaper Rajyasamacharam was born in 1847 in the courtyard of the Basal Mission Church atIllikkunnu near, in District of Kerala. Hermann Gundert was the first editor of the Rajyasamacharam and was a religious propagator from German Basal Mission society(BMS). It was released as eight cyclostyled sheets in demy octavo size. The pages were withoutcolumns or cross heads and was in easy language. It was a religious journal mainly included thepropagation of Christian believes. It stopped publication in December 1850 and a total of forty-two issues were published.

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE A. Disasters and print medisa reporting Handmer and Dovers (2012) in their book spoke of quick tips and suggestions every reporter would need at or before the time of any disaster convey to media impacts in disaster situation. Media plays a vital role in saving lives of people, as it carries a great capacity to influence the role that holds society together and serves as a forum for public and community interactions (Walters et., al 1993).

B. Disasters and information dissemination Joseph Scanlon (2011) in his book focused on the role of the mass media and, as a result, good deal about the roles media can and do perform before, right time and after disasters. Lee Wilkins (1986) in his study made a content analysis of media coverage of the Bhopal disaster check the route in which twelve media outlets reported the hazard. The media both television and print outlets reported Bhopal as a discrete event, giving relatively little time and space to the underlying policy issues centering on technological hazards.

III. METHODOLOGY Two newspapers viz. MalayalaManorama and Mathrubumi were taken for the study and all the articles pertaining to Kerala floods were analyzed over a period from August 1st 2018 to August 31st 2018. A. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY  To explore the level of coverage of Kerala floods issue among Malayalam newspapers.

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IV. ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS With regards to articles by story type, there were more news articles in Times of India (339) than The Hindu (325). As regards to number of images and articles, there were more number of images in The Hindu (147) than Times of India (126). There were more number of articles in Times of India (427) than The Hindu (396). With regards to length of news story, there were more number of stories which were more than 800 words in length in The Hindu (47) compared to Times of India (31). As regards to span of news story, there were more stories which were one column in length in The Hindu (58) compared to Times of India (49).

V. CONCLUSION The primary Objective of the research undertaken had been to know about the coverage and reportage of News given to Kerala Flood 2018. The 2018 Kerala Flood has been the biggest disaster covered and reported by print media. Other than just informing the readers about the dangers and intensity of the floods, the print media exhibited unprecedented maturity and responsibility while reporting the same. The electronic media had an edge over print media due to technology while handling the flood reports but that doesn’t make the role of newspapers any less important. They did their best with the limited advantages. The media too was facing an unprecedented scenario for the first time and had no idea how to respond to a situation like this. This was the first major disaster that the state had faced in many years. Yet the print media rose up to the occasion and used their experience and maturity in reporting the news. The print media could make people aware in detail of what had happened and how they can handle it when the newspapers came out the next day. Not just reporting news, the print media also played an important role in leading the rescue operations. They made sure that the information from the authorities were passed on to the people correctly, with a focus on curbing fake news. Instead of reporting on what should have been done or what went wrong, they focused on what can be done to overcome the situation.

VI. REFERENCES [1] Handmer, J., & Dovers, S. (2012). The handbook of disaster and emergency policies and institutions. Routledge. [2] Scanlon, J. (2011). Research about the mass media and disaster: Never (well hardly ever) the twain shall meet. Journalism Theory and Practice, 233-269. [3] Walters, L. M., Wilkins, L., & Walters, T. (Eds.). (1993). Bad tidings: Communication and catastrophe. Psychology Press. [4] Wilkins, L. (1986). Media coverage of the Bhopal disaster: A cultural myth in the making. International journal of mass emergencies and disasters, 4(1), 7-33.

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