Visual Framing of Afghan Refugees in Global News Media

Abstract

This study content analyzed visual frames of Afghan refugees during the first six months of the Taliban’s second regime (from August 15, 2021 to February 15, 2022). A total of N = 1,948 images from the AP were quantitatively analyzed for focal point, topic, tone, depiction, gender, and age. The findings indicate that Afghan refugees were predominantly the primary focal points of the AP images with significantly more positive and active frames than negative and passive frames. In contrast to previous research on the framing of Afghan women in Western media before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Afghan women were framed significantly as more positive and active than Afghan men in the photos.