On March 1, 2026, a massive blast at an industrial explosives factory owned by SBL Energy Limited in Maharashtra's 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's owner, Alok Chaudhari, remains absconding.
While national newspapers such as The Hindu and The Indian Express reported the tragedy, several of India's mainstream 24×7 English news channels appeared to respond with a striking silence.
Alt News scanned all video reports shared on YouTube and X by five national English news channels — Republic World, NDTV, Times Now, India Today and CNN-News18 — 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.
So what were these channels broadcasting while a major industrial disaster — reportedly linked to serious safety lapses — unfolded?
Republic World
Using keyword searches, we found that Republic World had published a report on the incident on its website. However, the story did not appear on the channel's X feed during the period we examined.
We then turned to Republic World's 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.
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.
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's electoral rally in Madurai and his visit to the Thiruparankundram temple.
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. Among the few domestic stories covered that day were reports on a malfunction aboard a Leh–Delhi SpiceJet flight and the signing of an MoU between India and Canada led by the two countries' Prime Ministers.
On March 3, the topics for discussion on Debate with Arnab included #GlobalWarLoading, #CongForKhamenei, #KhameneiCongress and #PakInAFix.
Arnab Goswami also hosted a segment titled 'Arnab's 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 Khomeini.
Meanwhile, the Nagpur factory explosion and the condition of the injured workers — many of whom were still undergoing treatment in hospitals — did not feature in the channel's coverage that day either.
NDTV
NDTV's web portal carried a report 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.
NDTV's 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's Ayatollah Khomeini, exploring the issue from multiple angles. The channel also reported on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in poll-bound Tamil Nadu's Madurai.
On March 2, even as the casualty toll from the Nagpur explosion continued to rise, NDTV's coverage remained focused on the escalating Iran–US tensions. Shiv Aroor's show 'India Matters' focussed on '13 Warfare Takeaways', analysing the unfolding geopolitical developments.
On this show, he broke down information about 'sub nuclear nightmare situation' in great detail.
On this day also, NDTV extensively covered Narendra Modi signing an MOU with his Canadian counterpart.
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.
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.
India Today
A similar pattern was observed with India Today. While the Nagpur blast was reported on the outlet's web portal, no video report was shared on X or YouTube in the 72 hours following the incident.
On March 1, 2026, one of the few domestic developments featured on India Today was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's key security meeting in Delhi held in the backdrop of the unfolding crisis in West Asia. Much of the channel's coverage that day focused on the assassination of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini and its geopolitical fallout.
Veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai hosts the channel's prime-time segment News Today. On March 2, the show centred on the discussion "Trump's War on Iran: What Is the Endgame?". Throughout the day, the dominant focus remained the escalating conflict in West Asia.
Some domestic developments were covered in brief, including Modi's security review meeting to assess the West Asia situation, his conversations with the UAE president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Iran's retaliatory strikes, and India's official response condemning the attacks. The channel also carried short segments on political developments within India, including the Congress party's reaction to Arvind Kejriwal breaking down during a public appearance.
Trump's war on Iran: What is the endgame? #NewsToday with @SardesaiRajdeep | #IsraelIranWar #ITLivestream
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 Khomenei's assassination. The topic for that day's News Today segment was: "Trump shifts war goalpost again".
Sardesai also took an exclusive interview of British American journalist Mehedi Hasan on the developments in West Asia.
However, as far as India Today's X feed and YouTube channels are concerned, the Nagpur tragedy remained conspicuous in its absence.
Times Now
Times Now reported the Nagpur tragedy on its website, but no news bulletin could be found on its X feed or YouTube channel.
On March 1, 2026, news cycles on Times Now were dominated by reports of Ayatollah Khamenei's assassination. Among the few Indian developments that found coverage were AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi's reaction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security review meeting amid the West Asia crisis, as well as his Madurai rally and temple visit.
The following day, March 2, senior journalist Navika Kumar's show News Hour 9 on Times Now focused on the theme "India Baiter Lionised For Votes," criticising what it described as the Congress's sympathetic stance towards Khamenei.
I'm not surprised by the kind of reactions coming from India. For 5000 years, we've 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: @sushantsareen
In terms of coverage of Indian developments, Times Now aired Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 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.
On 3 March, the topic of discussion for the News Hour 9 show was: "India pitches for peace first, but Gandhis insist pick a side".
A handful of Indian developments did feature on Times Now that day, including the gas leak incident in Maharashtra's Palghar, Rahul Gandhi's response to Khamenei's 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's YouTube channel. Searches across X and Google also yielded no results.
CNN News 18
CNN News 18 followed the same pattern. It reported 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.
On March 1, 2026, CNN-News18 extensively covered Narendra Modi's Madurai temple visit and rally. The rest of its news cycle was largely dominated by reports on Ayatollah Khamenei's death and developments in the ongoing West Asian conflict.
On March 2, the channel continued its focus on the Iran–US–Israel conflict, alongside select domestic updates such as Modi's 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', the flagship prime-time show hosted by Rahul Shivshankar, which instead centred on the Iran war with captions like "Trump says Iran softened" and "Pledges to end this war."
Our investigation found no mention of the Nagpur blast or its aftermath on March 3 either. That day's episode of 'The Hard Facts' also remained focused on the West Asian conflict.
Exceptions: Mirror Now, CNBC TV 18
Among mainstream English news channels, Mirror Now and CNBC TV 18 aired bulletins on the Nagpur factory on 1 March 2026.
Mirror Now's detailed report can be watched below:
Recurring Tragedies, Unasked Questions
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 — one that occurred in a BJP-ruled state and primarily affected workers from vulnerable backgrounds — 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.
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 — nine killed at Solar Industries in December 2023, five at Chamundi Explosives in June 2024, nine at the Bhandara ordnance factory in January 2025, and another blast at a Solar Group unit in September 2025 that left one worker dead and 30 injured.
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—one 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.
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