Framing War on Terror in Unternational Press (Case Study Pakistan, Afghanistan, USA and India)

Abstract

The whole world is facing the problem of terrorism. Several countries have emerged as major stake holders in this global war of terrorism in the political scenario after 9/11. This study searches through content analysis about the narratives developing on War on Terror in international press during past few years. The study explores the amount of coverage on War on Terror by the international press, framing of War and Terror by the international press and differences and similarities in framing in the selected newspapers of Pakistan, Afghanistan, USA and India. Five different news frames (attribution of responsibility, human interest, conflict, morality, and economics) were looked at in the press of each country. Foreign and domestic policies of a country influenced framing of each news outlet. Pakistan and Afghanistan have been directly affected by war on terror, so the press of both reported more on events related to terrorism. The coverage and framing of Afghanistan and India’s press related to war on terror was dominated by regional foreign politics especially framing of Pakistan and its role in war on terror. Framing and coverage of NY Times of war on terror was heavily influenced by the internal politics within USA as well as their foreign policy. The comparison of frames has statistically significant difference between the groups when p<0.05, which indicates asymmetrical order having significance of 95%. The reporting on War on terror has implications on the overall coverage by the press of a country by using different frames formally and ideologically in their narratives regarding an issue.