State Interest and Media Coverage on Conflict: A Case of American Military Operations in Pakistan

Abstract

Peace and harmony are essential for sustainable development. Conflict, clash, military operations and wars destabilize the nations. After 9/11, Pakistan merged hands with America due to drastic pressure of America in chasing Taliban and Al-Qaeda members. Pakistan faced the vilest terrorism and suffered a lot in terms of armed and civilian casualties, financial loses, deteriorated law and order conditions due to American operations in Pakistan. Media is a key factor of spreading information and enhances public dependency on it during clash and conflict. So, it’s very important to analyze how USA (Time), UK (The Economist) and Pakistani (The Herald) magazines report these operations in Galtung’s Peace or War perspective? Did these magazines contribute in the critical discourses on voices of voiceless, non-partisan, neutral stance of all stakeholders, invisible effects of these operations or just they report the most dominating voices, partisan, dehumanization, visible effects? The current study aims to analyze the treatment on American operations, in three international magazines from June 2004 till December 2010. It will include all the articles, editorials, essays, reports and book notes on American attacks in Pakistan.