Conflict and Conflicting News Discourses: An Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Pulwama Attack

Abstract

ABSTRACT Discourse analysis is used to investigate print media coverage of the Pulwama attack of 2019, a recent development in the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan that pushed the nuclear-armed Asian neighbours to the brink of war. To identify the news discourses, 686 headlines of news articles published in six popular newspapers on the attack and its aftermath during February 15–25, 2019, are analysed. Three levels of discourse analysis are employed: Lexical choices, social languages and conversations. Under lexical choices, the headlines are analysed to identify the bags of words used to represent places and actions, along with the literary-rhetorical devices employed. With the social languages tool, the assumed identities and intentions of the headline writer are deduced, while the conversations tool is used to identify and categorise the events covered, issues raised, actors and institutions involved and their arguments in the headlines. Five distinct discourses—News, Political, Critical, Conflict and Peace—are thus identified and characterised. Further, consulting critical discourse theories, the study findings are used to discuss the interplay of media, discourses and power, and theorise on the sociopolitical powerplays that regulate those journalistic discourses, discussing implications and the way forward for the journalists and journalism practice covering conflicts.