News coverage and conflict resolution : aid or impediment : a case study of India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir

Abstract

The news coverage of conflicts invariably focuses on violence and detailsnof violent events. Such coverage potentially aggravates conflict by failingnto highlight peaceful alternatives and by anticipating further violence.nSeveral researchers have suggested diverse roles for media in preventingnand resolving a conflict. Johan Galtung, a peace researcher with morenthan four decades of experience in conflict resolution, has put forward thenconcept of 'Peace journalism' -preventing and resolving conflict throughnmedia. With the current developments in media coverage, triggered bynconflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kashmir, the Middle East andnother parts, the concept of peace journalism is raising a critical debate onnthe way media is reporting these conflicts and its impact on conflictnprevention and resolution.nnnnnnnn n In view of the pattern of contemporary news coverage of conflicts,nresearchers argue that news coverage can be a frightful weapon ofnviolence when it propagates messages of intolerance or disinformationnthat shape public sentiment. Galtung argues that the world is divided intonnation-states where citizens and media are supposed to identifynthemselves with their state. In such a situation, the reporting of conflictsnis based on the communiques from the top military command that wouldnreflect their worldviews. Galtung, while criticizing contemporary newsncoverage of conflicts, claims that the media generally follow the 'lownroad' in reporting conflict - chasing wars, the elites that run them, and an'win-lose' outcome. He says that in the present scenario, media legitimizenviolence by constantly giving coverage to it and mostly ignore peacefulnoutcomes of conflict.nnnnnnnnn n This thesis tests Galtung's claims regarding news coverage of conflict.nThe India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir was chosen as a case study. Thenfindings of the study confirm that news coverage of conflict invariablynfocuses on violence and details of violent events. Such coveragenpotentially aggravates already volatile conflict by failing to highlightnpeaceful alternatives and anticipating further violence. My study alsonidentifies -in the case of Indian English language newspaper coverage ofnthe India-Pakistan conflict and Kashmir - factors which explain whynconflict is reported in the manner Galtung suggests. I conclude bynrecommending certain measures drawn out from my personal interactionnwith journalists reporting on India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir.n