On March 1, 2026, a massive blast at an industrial explosives factory owned by SBL Energy Limited in Maharashtra\u2019s Nagpur district left at least 20 people dead and 23 injured, most of them women workers. Police have arrested 11 individuals, including senior officials and supervisory staff of the company, while the factory\u2019s owner, Alok Chaudhari, remains absconding.<\/p>\n
While national newspapers such as The Hindu and The Indian Express reported the tragedy, several of India\u2019s mainstream 24\u00d77 English news channels appeared to respond with a striking silence.<\/p>\n
Alt News scanned all video reports shared on YouTube and X by five national English news channels \u2014 Republic World, NDTV, Times Now, India Today and CNN-News18<\/strong> \u2014 over three days following the explosion, from March 1 to March 3, 2026, and found that none of these channels shared a single video report on the explosion that claimed 20 lives, in those three days.<\/p>\n So what were these channels broadcasting while a major industrial disaster \u2014 reportedly linked to serious safety lapses \u2014 unfolded?<\/p>\n Using keyword searches, we found that Republic World had published a report<\/a> on the incident on its website. However, the story did not appear on the channel\u2019s X feed during the period we examined.<\/p>\n We then turned to Republic World\u2019s YouTube channel and searched for videos related to the Nagpur explosion posted between March 1 and March 3, 2026. The search yielded no results. We could not find any video coverage of the incident on the channel during this period.<\/p>\n This absence is noteworthy given the scale of the tragedy, in which at least 20 workers lost their lives and many others suffered severe injuries.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Republic World continued its regular programming. Between March 1 and March 3, the channel aired three episodes of its flagship show Debate with Arnab. On March 1, one of the topics discussed was #TrumpKillsKhamenei. On the same day, the channel also broadcast the live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s electoral rally in Madurai and his visit to the Thiruparankundram temple.<\/p>\n #TrumpKillsKhamenei<\/a> | ‘You have a lot of Shias in Pakistan. How many people can be killed like this if the protests continue?’: Arnab bashes Adnan Haider, Pakistani Journalist<\/p>\n Watch #DebateWithArnab<\/a> now, on-air, and online. Tune in and fire in your comments:\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/mZrSqYBqeU<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Republic (@republic) March 1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The next day, on March 2, Republic chose #IranWarEscalates as the topic for its Debate with Arnab segment. The show also used the hashtags #KhameneiLeague and #WhyTakeSides.\u00a0Among the few domestic stories covered that day were reports on a malfunction aboard a Leh\u2013Delhi SpiceJet flight and the signing of an MoU between India and Canada led by the two countries\u2019 Prime Ministers.<\/p>\n #KhameneiLeague<\/a> | \u2018Iran has supported us in trade, during electricity crisis, sell cheap petrol, Why is India quiet today?: Asif Hussain Sohail (@iamasifsohail<\/a>) , Political Analyst<\/p>\n Watch #DebateWithArnab<\/a> now, on-air, and online. Tune in and fire in your comments:\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/I2febf53c3<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Republic (@republic) March 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n On March 3, the topics for discussion on Debate with Arnab included #GlobalWarLoading, #CongForKhamenei, #KhameneiCongress and #PakInAFix.<\/p>\n Arnab Goswami also hosted a segment titled ‘Arnab\u2019s Lead’ under the hashtag #PakInAFix, focusing on the unrest that followed a violent mob breaking into the US embassy in Karachi while protesting the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Nagpur factory explosion and the condition of the injured workers \u2014 many of whom were still undergoing treatment in hospitals \u2014 did not feature in the channel\u2019s coverage that day either.<\/p>\n [youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=70SfjwhNG7g?si=N2OlUSk6b9S5-6cP]<\/p>\n NDTV\u2019s web portal carried a report<\/a> on the Nagpur factory explosion on March 1, 2026. However, no follow-up stories appeared subsequently. More notably, there is no news bulletin on the tragedy available on the channel’s YouTube channel and X handle.<\/p>\n NDTV\u2019s prime-time show, India Matters, hosted by journalist Shiv Aroor, was not aired on March 1. Throughout the day, the channel focused extensively on developments surrounding the reported death of Iran\u2019s Ayatollah Khamenei, exploring the issue from multiple angles. The channel also reported on Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s rally in poll-bound Tamil Nadu\u2019s Madurai.<\/p>\n On March 2, even as the casualty toll from the Nagpur explosion continued to rise, NDTV\u2019s coverage remained focused on the escalating Iran\u2013US tensions. Shiv Aroor\u2019s show ‘India Matters’ focussed on ’13 Warfare Takeaways’, analysing the unfolding geopolitical developments.<\/p>\n Watch #IndiaMatters<\/a> with @ShivAroor<\/a> | Coming up at 8 tonight only on NDTV 24×7 and https:\/\/t.co\/hMlRpgaRS6<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/MbEMVUV9jK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NDTV (@ndtv) March 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n On this show, he broke down information about ‘sub nuclear nightmare situation’ in great detail.<\/p>\n Middle East Conflict: Maximum escalation possible?<\/p>\n NDTV’s @ShivAroor<\/a> breaks down a sub-nuclear ‘nightmare’ scenario on #IndiaMatters<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/e9EYCfL3lF<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NDTV (@ndtv) March 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n On this day also, NDTV extensively covered Narendra Modi signing an MOU with his Canadian counterpart.<\/p>\n This pattern continued on March 3, 2026, as well. The topic of that day’s India Matters show was focused on the technological breakthrough of the Iranians regarding the production of cheap combat drones.<\/p>\n Watch #IndiaMatters<\/a> with @shivaroor<\/a> tonight at 8 only on NDTV 24X7 pic.twitter.com\/ekwMe2jTUR<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NDTV (@ndtv) March 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n We could not find a single bulletin on the Nagpur explosion on the channel’s X feed or YouTube channel when we examined the content shared between March 1 and 3.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A similar pattern was observed with India Today. While the Nagpur blast was reported on the outlet\u2019s web portal<\/a>, no video report was shared on X or YouTube in the 72 hours following the incident.<\/p>\n On March 1, 2026, one of the few domestic developments featured on India Today was Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s key security meeting in Delhi<\/a> held in the backdrop of the unfolding crisis in West Asia. Much of the channel\u2019s coverage that day focused on the assassination of Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and its geopolitical fallout.<\/p>\n Veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai hosts the channel\u2019s prime-time segment News Today. On March 2, the show centred on the discussion \u201cTrump\u2019s War on Iran: What Is the Endgame?\u201d. Throughout the day, the dominant focus remained the escalating conflict in West Asia.<\/p>\n Some domestic developments were covered in brief, including Modi\u2019s security review meeting to assess the West Asia situation, his conversations with the UAE president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Iran\u2019s retaliatory strikes, and India\u2019s official response condemning the attacks. The channel also carried short segments on political developments within India, including the Congress party\u2019s reaction to Arvind Kejriwal breaking down during a public appearance.<\/p>\n Trump’s war on Iran: What is the endgame? <\/span>#NewsToday<\/a> with <\/span>@SardesaiRajdeep<\/a> | <\/span>#IsraelIranWar<\/a> #ITLivestream<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/t.co\/4qkV8mMSIH<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) March 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The news cycle was similar on March 3 as well. The noticeable Indian story aired on that day was Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s charge that the Indian government was silent on Ayatollah Khamenei’s assassination. The topic for that day’s News Today<\/a> segment was: “Trump shifts war goalpost again”.<\/p>\n Sardesai also took an exclusive interview of British American journalist Mehedi Hasan on the developments in West Asia.<\/p>\n #EXCLUSIVE<\/a> | Renowned journalist Mehdi Hasan reveals that the US administration went to into this war with no endgame. He also says this administration is full of incompetent people. Listen in.#IsraelIranWar<\/a> #MiddleEastCrisis<\/a> #NewsToday<\/a> | @SardesaiRajdeep<\/a> @mehdirhasan<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/qAA7ugfy39<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) March 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n However, as far as India Today’s X feed and YouTube channels are concerned, the Nagpur tragedy remained conspicuous in its absence.<\/p>\n Times Now reported the Nagpur tragedy on its website<\/a>, but no news bulletin could be found on its X feed or YouTube channel.<\/p>\n On March 1, 2026, news cycles on Times Now were dominated by reports of Ayatollah Khamenei\u2019s assassination. Among the few Indian developments that found coverage were AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi\u2019s reaction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s security review meeting amid the West Asia crisis, as well as his Madurai rally and temple visit.<\/p>\n The following day, March 2, senior journalist Navika Kumar\u2019s show News Hour 9<\/em> on Times Now focused on the theme \u201cIndia Baiter Lionised For Votes<\/a>,\u201d criticising what it described as the Congress\u2019s sympathetic stance towards Khamenei.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not surprised by the kind of reactions coming from India. For 5000 years, we\u2019ve had a culture of meeting the enemy, giving him the key to the fort so they can take over, and supporting the enemy rather than our own people: <\/span>@sushantsareen<\/a><\/p>\n Modi has become a puppet of Trump.\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/oZH7u5LNG4<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In terms of coverage of Indian developments, Times Now aired Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s reported interaction with Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as his meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister to sign several MoUs. During the joint media address, Modi spoke about the need to resolve the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.<\/p>\n On 3 March, the topic of discussion<\/a> for the News Hour 9 show was: “India pitches for peace first, but Gandhis insist pick a side”.<\/p>\n When Saddam Hussein was hanged, the UPA government in 2006 never issued any condemnation: @Iyervval<\/a> tells @navikakumar<\/a><\/p>\n In 1979, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Foreign Minister, visited China. At the same time, China bombed Vietnam…. Atal Bihari Vajpayee aborted his mission\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/5tgheGLr6O<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n A handful of Indian developments did feature on Times Now that day, including the gas leak incident in Maharashtra\u2019s Palghar, Rahul Gandhi\u2019s response to Khamenei\u2019s death, and an interview with Jammu and Kashmir chief electoral officer Sanjeev Verma ahead of the SIR exercise in the Union Territory. However, Alt News could not find any video report on the Nagpur incident on the channel\u2019s YouTube channel.\u00a0Searches across X and Google also yielded no results.<\/p>\n CNN News 18 followed the same pattern. It reported<\/a> the Nagpur incident on its web portal, but no bulletin or video report was uploaded on X or YouTube between March 1 and March 3.<\/p>\n On March 1, 2026, CNN-News18 extensively covered Narendra Modi\u2019s Madurai temple visit and rally. The rest of its news cycle was largely dominated by reports on Ayatollah Khamenei\u2019s death and developments in the ongoing West Asian conflict.<\/p>\n On March 2, the channel continued its focus on the Iran\u2013US\u2013Israel conflict, alongside select domestic updates such as Modi\u2019s security meeting, his reported communication with Netanyahu, and a joint press conference with the Canadian Prime Minister. However, the Nagpur story was again omitted. The issue was also absent from ‘The Hard Facts’<\/a>, the flagship prime-time show hosted by Rahul Shivshankar, which instead centred on the Iran war with captions like \u201cTrump says Iran softened\u201d and \u201cPledges to end this war.\u201d<\/p>\n Our investigation found no mention of the Nagpur blast or its aftermath on March 3 either. That day\u2019s episode of ‘The Hard Facts’ also remained focused on the West Asian conflict.<\/p>\n [youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bYRbjKrO0Zg?si=HU6zYjshwHUa97Xj]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Among mainstream English news channels, Mirror Now and CNBC TV 18 aired bulletins on the Nagpur factory on 1 March 2026.<\/p>\n 17 people died, while 18 others were critically injured after a major explosion at ammunition manufacturing company SBL Energy’s factory in Nagpur. Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis called the incident ‘tragic’ & has ordered an investigation#Nagpur<\/a> #NagpurBlast<\/a> #SBLEnergy<\/a>\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/9PmxQkzD5Y<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) March 1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Mirror Now’s detailed report can be watched below:<\/p>\n [youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3Q9PElGlaiE?si=0QmnXl17lzYfsD_3]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why did five leading English news channels not share a single bulletin on a factory blast that killed 20 people in Nagpur, on X and YouTube in the three days following the incident? Why did they not host any prime-time debate on it? The omission raises uncomfortable questions about editorial priorities. When channels that claim to shape national discourse find no time for a major domestic tragedy \u2014 one that occurred in a BJP-ruled state and primarily affected workers from vulnerable backgrounds \u2014 it suggests not only a bias, but also a flawed understanding of what counts as newsworthy and a clear attempt at manipulating the information ecosystem.<\/p>\n There is another, more troubling dimension to the Nagpur blast. Over the past few years, the region has witnessed a series of deadly explosions at industrial units \u2014 nine killed<\/a> at Solar Industries in December 2023, five at Chamundi Explosives in June 2024<\/a>, nine at the Bhandara ordnance factory in January 2025<\/a>, and another blast at a Solar Group unit in September 2025<\/a> that left one worker dead and 30 injured.<\/p>\n In the Bhandara case, the National Green Tribunal had ordered criminal proceedings, citing failures in safety practices. Opposition leaders like Vijay Wadettiwar and Anil Deshmukh alleged that repeated warnings about lax safety enforcement and audits had gone unheeded. Taken together, these incidents point to a pattern of systemic lapses in the Nagpur industrial belt\u2014one that has cost lives time and again. By not reporting extensively on the latest incident that claimed 20 lives, and failing to raise the deeper questions of accountability it demands, major mainstream media outlets have fallen short of their most fundamental duty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On March 1, 2026, a massive blast at an industrial explosives factory owned by SBL Energy Limited in Maharashtra\u2019s Nagpur district left at least 20 people dead and 23 injured, most of them women workers. Police have arrested 11 individuals, including senior officials and supervisory staff of the company, while the factory\u2019s owner, Alok Chaudhari, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":311844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[282,39],"tags":[693],"an_content_type":[],"coauthors":[737,706],"class_list":["post-311317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-analysis","category-news","tag-featured","fact_checks_claim_type-economics"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nRepublic World<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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NDTV<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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India Today<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Times Now<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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CNN News 18<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Exceptions: Mirror Now, CNBC TV 18<\/h4>\n
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Recurring Tragedies, Unasked Questions<\/h4>\n