Communicator Volume LIV(3), July–September 2019 ISSN: 0588-8093 Contents 1. Social Media for Relief and Rescue: The Chennai, India 03 Floods of 2015 I. Arul Aram and R. Bhuvana 2. Inside The Newsroom: Television News Making in India 21 Om Prakash Das 3. Accessibility of Reproductive Health Related Schemes for 45 Pregnant and Lactating Rural Women: Some Reflections Parveen Pannu, Nidhi Gulati and Neha Yadav 4. TV Serials and their Impact on College Going Students: A 65 Case Study of Silchar, Assam G.P. Pandey and Mita Das 5. The #MeToo Movement in India and Gender Stereotypes 87 in the Creative Media Industries Arijit Das 6. Effectiveness and Future of Community Radio Stations 110 in India Nuti Namita 7. Book Reviews 116 Submission guidelines for authors 123 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLICATIONS Indian Institute of Mass Communication Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110 067 3 Social Media for Relief and Rescue: The Chennai, India Floods of 2015 I. Arul Aram1, and R. Bhuvana2 Abstract With the proliferation of the internet, the emergence of social media has accompanied mobile penetration and engagement making the world smaller. Swift communication is needed during natural disasters. Information and communication technology becomes integral to four significant phases of disaster management – mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Situations like disasters also demand stakeholders such as civil society, particularly in the form of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and communities, cater to the need for rapid, efficient communication to minimize the loss during a disaster. So with social media ruling the digital transformation, this study examines how NGOs – Chennai Volunteers, Bhoomika Trust and Chennai Trekking Club – used Facebook and WhatsApp through semi-structured interviews during the Chennai floods of 2015. The satisfaction levels of users of Facebook and WhatsApp among communities in Kotturpuram and Mudichur (two of the worst-affected areas during the Chennai floods, the former within the city and the latter being peri urban) in using these social media platforms during the disaster were also found. For that, a survey with judgement sampling (n=400) was done. The satisfaction level of using Facebook and WhatsApp among the residents of Kotturpuram and Mudichur was analyzed. The factors of sense of empowerment – information, real- time operational information, emotional support, situational updates, and trustworthiness – were further analyzed. The results revealed that disaster management during the floods was made more efficient with Facebook and WhatsApp. Keywords: Chennai floods, disaster management, Facebook, WhatsApp, empowerment Introduction The floods in Chennai, India happened during November-December 2015 had shaken the exclusive lifestyle of the upwardly mobile people who were a significant minority. 1 Professor, Department of Media Sciences, Anna University, India, Anna University, Chennai, India. Email: [email protected] (Corresponding Author) 2 Research Scholar, Department of Media Sciences, Anna University, India, Anna University, Chennai, India. Email: [email protected] Communicator l Vol. LIV (3), July–September, 2019 4 The floods not only affected the poor but also the rich. People who did not bother to know their next door neighbours were left helpless. Even their plastic card money was of no use with ATMs becoming dysfunctional. All including the old people who were not much affected by the floods put in their efforts in the relief and rehabilitation operations. When a son working in Mumbai contacted his father via Whatsapp to come over to Mumbai along with his mother, the father wrote back “… At this point of time I don’t want to be away leaving everything to others and escaping from this spot. In a critical situation like this we would like to shoulder some of the activities with all the others here… Nothing to worry. God is great and will take care of us” (“Chennai floods: Father’s WhatsApp,” 2015). The growth of mobile technologies and the access through social media have transformed virtual communication. Social media increase the rate at which the online culture of interaction prevail and transforms interaction virtually with their instantaneous popularity and timeliness around the globe. With a range of benefits and opportunities, they empower persons to have a massive influence. So, even people who are not actively using social media cannot avoid noticing their everyday presence. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become a key parameter for economic development. With such ICTs, it is possible to be present when we are absent. The digital world has given a new perspective of how one can get in touch and seek help from the outside when needed. A natural disaster is the result of natural hazard – earthquake, landslide, tropical storm, flood, or tsunami. Natural disasters affect human activities and thus urge us to communicate or contact our dear and near ones as well as offer/seek rescue and relief efforts. The effective response to a disaster reduction lies in quick, reliable communication. Social Networking Sites (SNSs) and mobile messaging apps are also used to plan and execute mitigation measures as they provide right information at the right time, and can be of immense help for the people to minimize the loss due to a disaster. This has made the social media users disseminate disaster-related information to people at a personalized level even before the stakeholders such as the government and the mass media. Social media tools are taking an ever-growing part in disaster response too (Cohen, 2013; Sarcevic et al., 2012) by ranking as the fourth most popular source to access emergency information (Lindsay, 2011). Situations like disasters demand stakeholders such as civil society, particularly in the form of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and communities attempt to cater to the need for rapid, efficient communication to minimize the loss during a disaster. The rapidly-changing communication environment, including interactive and transnational flows and networks, provides NGOs with new communication opportunities to facilitate the victims to overcome the situation during disasters. This study examines how NGOs and communities in Chennai used Facebook and WhatsApp during the Chennai floods of Communicator l Vol. LIV (3), July–September, 2019 5 2015. For doing so, the study incorporates both qualitative and quantitative methods of semi-structured interviews with the founders of NGOs – Chennai Volunteers, Bhoomika Trust and Chennai Trekking Club – and a survey to find the satisfaction levels and sense of empowerment of users of Facebook and WhatsApp among communities in Kotturpuram and Mudichur (two of the worst-affected areas during the Chennai floods of 2015) in using these social media platforms during the disaster. Background The northeast monsoon routinely causes low pressure which forms over the Bay of Bengal. This would strike the eastern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal and cause floods, while Tamil Nadu experienced droughts. But during 2015, Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu was devastated with record-breaking rain since 1918, which led to massive floods. With an urban population of 86,53,521 (“Chennai City Census 2011 data”, 2011), Chennai was shattered by an unexpected calamity during November-December 2015. The persistent rain till the end of November led the Chembarambakkam reservoir reach its limit. This led to the overflow of the Adyar and Cooum rivers. With non-stop rain, Chennai was waterlogged with record-breaking 374 mm of rainfall within 24 hours, during the beginning of December 2015 (“Mudichur, Tambaram, Kanchi Parts”, 2015). Following that, many parts of Chennai were submerged in water resulting in the city being declared a disaster zone on December 2. The 2015 floods in Chennai witnessed one of the heaviest rains in 100 years and this led to disruption of normal life. Roads were overflowing with stormwater making it difficult to commute. Train services were cancelled. The Chennai airport was shut for three days as the stormwater had inundated the runways so much that aircraft floated adrift. Industrial and commercial activities were affected due to the floods. Rivers breached their banks which led to the submerging of surrounding areas with water rising up to the second floor in some places (Pradnya, 2015). One of the runways of the airport had been built on a place that was once a river. The lakes overflowed and the rivers overflowed with sewage as never before. The floodgates were opened and Avadi Bridge collapsed. People were stuck in their homes with their routine life affected. The disaster killed more than 400 people, displaced lakhs of people to the relief camps, causing economic damage. Educational institutions were closed for more than a month. Several city hospitals stopped functioning. Public places such as temples, mosques, churches, hotels, and cinema theatres were opened to those needing shelter and food. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indian Army, the Navy and the Indian Air Force (IAF) were deployed to carry out rescue operations in Chennai. The Tamil Nadu police and the Fire and Rescue Department also proved themselves to be Communicator l Vol. LIV (3), July–September, 2019 6 very resourceful during the crisis. The Chennai floods of 2015 marooned a wide gamut of people from lower class to the elite leaving nobody untouched and also prompted one of the biggest