Operation Zarb-e-Azb in the Global Wire Services: A Framing Analysis

Abstract

Pakistan has become a victim of terrorism after its involvement in the ongoing war on terror. The country has lost thousands of civilians and security personnel in this American-led war. Though, Pakistan has always been treated negatively by the media organizations of elite nations. Operation Zarb-e-Azb was a combined military action of the Pakistan army against the armed insurgent groups in North Waziristan which was launched in the year 2014. The current study attempted to examine the framing of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in global wire services. For this purpose, AFP, AP and Reuters were selected. Through the technique of convenient sampling, a total of 300 news items from the entire period of operation were selected for analysis.Quantitative as well as qualitative content analysis and interpretive analysis have been used as a research design for this study. The results indicated that the global wire services framed the news stories of military operations in a positive way. The terrorism and militant threat frame was more dominant in global wires as compared to other frames. The results also revealed that the global wires framed this operation differently by representing the foreign policy and interests of their respective states.