On the evening of September 9^th, NITIE played host to a stimulating discussion on “The roles and responsibilities of Media in disaster management.” Ironically, the torrential showers that hit parts of the city added an extra touch of authenticity to the proceedings.

The event was split into two sessions. The first session was a tripartite tête-à-tête between the audience, Ms. Shyama Kulkarni, Ward coordinator of the Mumbai based NGO AGNI and Ms. Amrita Shah, columnist, Indian Express. Ms. Kulkarni kick started the proceedings by asking Ms. Shah to define the role of the media while reporting a disaster. Ms. Shah responded by saying that in an ideal scenario the media should present an unbiased and factual report of things as they are. However, she also admitted that in reality, this often does not happen due to the various internal and external pressures that the media is subject to.

The discussion went on to cover a whole gamut of topics relating to ethics, functions and realities of today’s media. The speakers debated the new trend of newspapers raising funds from readers for relief work during disasters. Ms. Shah was of the opinion that such overt involvement in relief activities might compromise the newspaper’s objectivity while covering issues pertaining to the disaster. Ms. Kulkarni implored the media to go beyond mere manufacturing of hype and to actually follow human interest stories till an end-solution is reached. This way the authorities will be forced to act and will not be able to get off the hook by pointing fingers at each other.

The audience and the panelists pondered over the business model that newspapers operate upon. If the true customers of the media houses are indeed advertisers and not the readers, then crass commercialization is bound to hijack the functioning and freedom of the fourth estate.

The second session was chaired by Mr. Tamal Bandopadyaya, Resident Deputy Editor, Business Standard. He analyzed the impact of disasters on business. He explained how financial losses are calculated in the event of a disaster. In response to an audience question he discussed how insurance companies deal with challenges posed by natural calamities.

The remarkable insulation that the stock markets seemed to have cultivated to natural disasters was discussed. Mr. Bandopadyaya was of the opinion that the stock markets are driven by the inflow of funds from FIIs who are banking on the prospects of long term growth in the Indian industry and hence, short term incidents such as floods, etc. do not trigger panic amongst them.

At the end of the day, both sessions emerged with the conclusion that the citizens of Mumbai will have to play a more active role in disaster management as well as media moderation. Unless the citizens speak up, neither will the Government nor the media listen. Mumbaikars your ailing city is calling for you!