Conflict Frame Research Articles

Religious Environmental Sensemaking in Climate-Induced Conflicts

This article used the case of the Pokot community in northern Kenya to argue that focusing only on technical approaches in dealing with conflicts induced by climate change neglects the deeper religio-spiritual mechanisms that motivate actors in such conflicts and give the latter their texture. For example, the sacred connection with cattle, forests, and land, or the spiritual blessings of cattle raiders in times of competition over dwindling resources raise questions concerning whether and how indigenous religions’ sacred beliefs and practices contribute to finding peaceful solutions to such conflicts and advancing the discourse of religious peacebuilding. This article deployed the concept of religious environmental sense-making to argue that framing climate-induced conflicts in sacred terms influences how actors position themselves within them, as well as their level of intensity and intractability. Answering this question is crucial to advancing the field of peacebuilding, understanding what propels actors in climate-induced conflicts, and comprehending how policy-makers and mediators in conflicts can develop locally grounded strategies to address such climate issues.

Conflict Sensitive Journalism and Elections

In any electoral process, the media plays a crucial role in informing the public and acting as a watchdog in ensuring a credible and fair election. Media influences the election dynamics and perceptions, how and what the media reports, builds, or breaks the credibility of an election. Media influences people by way of reporting, offering peaceful resolution, or even ending up in conflicts. Media is therefore instrumental in conflict resolutions and peace-building. In Kenya, the media is faulted for poor reporting and amplifying hate speech that inflames tension and leads to retaliatory attacks. The media has previously reported unconfirmed reports, inciting messages from politicians, or perpetuated viewpoint that has created political discourses that fun violent conflict. The media ought to report freely, fairly, and be neutral during elections without fueling violence. This paper sought to examine the role played by media in the electoral processes, analyses media coverage of the 2017 elections, establish the extent to which the media escalated and/or de-escalated election violence in Kenya. In collecting data, the researchers applied the qualitative approach through content analysis of newspaper articles, journals, and websites. These materials provided the intended information on the issue that was to be addressed, that is conflict-sensitive journalism. The study established that media has a role in framing conflicts and/or escalating conflict. It is also responsible for providing balanced reporting through good investigative journalism especially during conflict situations to promote peace and tranquility.

About a Will to Power: Post-cold War Conflicts and the Politics of Knowledge Production

This paper proposes a critical interrogation of the dominant interpretations of the post-cold war conflicts in order to demonstrate their political nature and how they internalised the causes of conflicts. By internalisation, I refer to the move to locate the causes of conflicts in internal sources. It argues that the region of emergence of the dominant interpretations of conflicts—the so-called new wars— and the internalisation of their causes is the attempt by the West to ideologically suppress or discredit third world anticolonial solidarity and worldmaking. To make this argument, the paper pays specific attention to the broader historical contexts and structural conditions within which internalisation emerged, which it argues are significant for understanding not only the political nature of the dominant interpretations of conflicts, but also the material forces and social processes that informed their production and circulation. In other words, that the framing of the post-cold war conflicts and the internalisation of their causes were never innocent or impartial acts of knowledge production, but political, ideological, and temporal acts linked to power, interests, and specific agenda.

Cuando el debate se conecta con el ataque. Presencia del conflicto en el tratamiento informativo de las elecciones federales mexicanas de 2018 y 2021

Los medios favorecen el debate político durante las campañas electorales, dando un tratamiento informativo particular a los asuntos relevantes. En esta cobertura destaca el uso del encuadre de conflicto que, aunque suele presentar la política como un ejercicio de confrontación y ataque, también puede mostrarla como un proceso de debate e intercambio de opiniones. Se realizó un análisis de contenido de las noticias de televisión y prensa durante las elecciones presidencial de 2018 y federal de 2021 en México. Los hallazgos confirman la existencia de dos encuadres diferenciados de “conflicto” y de “debate y acuerdo político”, detectándose en ambas campañas la conexión existente entre ambos en la cobertura mediática de las elecciones.

Navigating the Divide: Healing Practices and Collective Wellbeing in a Nairobi Clinic

This paper analyzes ethnographic and historical data to emphasize the importance of framing health as collective wellbeing. Exploring missionary medical campaigns during the colonial period in East Africa, I connect the institutional legacy of Euro-American Protestant missions on the contemporary frameworks of US global public health provisions at my research site, Mwana Mwema Program. At this network of faith-based, USAID clinics in Kenya that provide treatment for children living with HIV, practitioners care for the wider community within a global health system that bases donor funding on epidemiological criteria. This narrow framing conflicts with practitioners’ notions of healing as collective wellbeing and can exacerbate communal divisions. I argue that Mwana Mwema’s notion of collective wellbeing offers a healthcare framework that faith-based providers can embrace. It yields more holistic care for entire communities and offers an opportunity for those of us in the United States to rethink our notions of health.

Health Versus Economy: Lockdown Controversy Coverage in Indonesian Online News Platforms

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has urged several countries to take an extreme measurement by imposing a lockdown policy to control the spread of the virus. Generally approved, the action might have several negative effects, primarily on economic aspects. Utilizing qualitative framing analysis, the study investigates how three national online economic and business media platforms, namely Kontan.co.id, Bisnis.com, and CNBCIndonesia.com, apply news frames to cater the lockdown-related issues to the public. The study identified four news frames: conflict, attribution of responsibility, economic consequences, and human interest. It appears that the ‘conflict frame’ is heavily used to portray lockdown policy as an ‘arena of war’ between health and economic interest. 
 
 Keywords: COVID-19 Impacts, Economic and Business Media, Lockdown, Qualitative Framing Analysis

Framing and conflict: the case of the Asante Akyem North district’s farmer-herder conflict in Ghana

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how framing of conflict in different phases is constructed and how the specific framing affects the development of the conflict and its management in the farmer–herder conflict in the Asante Akyem North District of Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe study area is Agogo which falls within the Asante Akyem North District in Ghana. The study used a qualitative approach whose philosophical ontology and epistemology believe that meaning is constructed (interpretivism). It further used a case study design using in-depth interviews, focus group discussion and observation guide. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to select the respondents. The data were analysed using the thematic analysis approach. Ethical considerations such as informed consent, willingness and anonymity of respondents were duly respected.FindingsThe findings highlighted that the conflict actors formed frames such as identity-relational, affective-intellectual and negotiation-win frames as the drivers of the conflict. In this conflict, the farmers who are indigenes and custodians of the land feel more potent over the transnational migrants who are pastoralists and argue that the herdsmen be flushed out without negotiation.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the papers that bring to light the psychological dimension of the causes of the farmer–herder conflict in Ghana.

Framing and Agenda Setting of the Day of Republika Srpska and its 2016 Referendum

Abstract The purpose of this article is to explore broadsheet newspaper framing and agenda-setting of two events using the five-frame model developed by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000). This article provides insight into how the leading broadsheet newspaper within BiH’s Republika Srpska frames relationships between the three main ethnic groups and is the first such study to occur in BiH. By identifying and exploring the most common frames in Glas Srpske during the five-year period (from 31 December 2015 to 30 December 2020), the research is meant to answer the following research questions: How does Glas Srpske frame the conversation about it and portray the Day of Republika Srpska (RS) and Referendum of the RS Day? The results, which find Attribution of Responsibility and Conflict frames to be the more prevalent in Glas Srpske, illustrate contentious politics that reinforce differences between ethnic groups in BiH. These events and the controversial narrative surrounding them are relevant more than ever in the light of the recent non-paper ‘Western Balkans – A Way Forward’.

Media Agenda and Press Conferences on COVID-19 in Mexico: An Analysis of Journalists' Questions.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to strengthen health communication in times of crisis. This study aims to analyze the media agenda of press conferences on COVID-19 in Mexico during the first two phases of the pandemic, based on journalists’ questions. The study is based on framing theory. The method used was content analysis from a quantitative perspective. This method was explicitly applied to the final section of the conferences, which dealt with “questions from the press.” The results show that at the beginning of the pandemic, the press was more interested in the government’s management of the health crisis than in issues such as the prevention of the disease itself or the economic impact of the crisis on the country. Moreover, the main characteristic of the questions was that they were generally socially relevant. In conclusion, we found that in the media agenda of the Mexican conference, the frame of attribution of responsibility was prominent but in combination with the frames of conflict, human interest, morality, and economic consequences.

Labeling-Driven Identity Construction in Nigerian Media Framing of Farmer-Herder Conflict

Abstract This article examines the Nigerian media framing of the perennial conflict between herdsmen and farmers in North Central of Nigeria. Content analysis of two national dailies – Nigerian Tribune and Vanguard – was conducted while farmers and herdsmen were interviewed. Findings reveal that the media adopted name-calling using the instrumentality of framing to construct identities for the conflict actors. Findings also reflect the paradox of the stakeholders’ views of the construction of identity for the conflict actors by the media. The article ultimately reflects the Nigerian social issues vis-à-vis the role of the mass media on society. It recommends an emphasis on peace journalism as a panacea to conflict de-escalation which war journalism promotes to achieve harmonious inter-group social relations.

Riot grrrls and shredder bros: Punk ethics, social justice and (un)popular popular music at School of Rock

This article presents a case study of riot grrrl music in a School of Rock franchise in the Midwestern United States. It presents the school as a place in which gender is bound up in specific notions of what it is to play rock music, notions that directly inform what constitutes popular popular music within this context. The article examines the Riot Grrrl project using frame analysis, presenting and discussing three frames through which riot grrrl was taught: as music, punk ethics and social justice. It examines a case of frame conflict as played out in a disagreement between the programme’s two male instructors. It suggests that multi-frame approaches to popular music teaching, including clashes that may arise from conflicting frames, are effective in disrupting the musical-cultural status quo and in creating spaces in which students may productively and empathetically encounter the unpopular popular music of marginalized musical ‘Others’.

Twitter conversations reveal issue salience of aviation in the broader context of climate change

Growing concern about the climate crisis comes with increased scrutiny of flying as an emission-intensive activity. This study conceptualises a modern communication system and draws on social media data to examine pre-COVID-19 (September to December 2019) public conversations about aviation and climate change. The analysis of >326,000 Twitter posts reveals that issue salience can be considerable at times, especially during key events such as United Nation climate summits and for users from countries such as Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, France and Spain. Topic modelling identified five key frames: economy and industry, public opinion, fairness and conflict, consequences and responsibility. The fairness and conflict frame recorded the largest number of tweets, and was noteworthy for its negative sentiment. It also had the highest retweet rate and the densest network in terms of average users per community. The responsibility frame was interesting for its positive sentiment, and perhaps the opportunity for aviation stakeholders to contribute proactively to the conversations by sharing climate action success stories. Given the importance of public opinion (voters and consumers), and the link between media activity and policy decisions, the ongoing monitoring of issue salience, frames and peer groups related to flying and climate change seems beneficial.

Media framing and its effects on conflict: A thematic approach to framing as a means of control

Framing as a concept and theoretical perspective is well established in the modern political package to construct meanings. The messages are encoded and the essence of the angle or perspective induced into the audience for a predictable outcome is the key feature of any of the framing perspectives. Framing in conflict focuses attention on factors beyond what had actually happened. All frames that are used in conflict reporting do not carry equal weightage. This is where frames are often used as tools of political manipulations and to create social mobilisations as prime agents of control over the public. Use of media for exposure and as an agent of a leading character to divert the conflict frames always head-on to seek media as a primary tool of rein. Perceived as a working platform for information, modern media power is often controlled and manipulated by the elite with fixed and constant frames more often in conflicts. The capacities of media as an incredible strength are thus used as a weapon of destruction as the media power declines and political manipulations increase. In the language of control and conflict, media capabilities perform in different criteria. The media by far, is the most important source of information on conflict and politics, and the combined control of these two sources as an influence on ‘public opinion’ is the focus of the paper. Framing as an absolute and relative influence of control in conflict reporting is the success of political communication. Categorising conflict frame under eight major categories-Intended Frame, Routine Frame, Indicative Frame, Identity Frame, Manipulative Frame, Motivational Frame, Peace Frame and Dispute Frame-the paper exemplifies different cases that can define the concept of media’s controlled conflict framing. These frames are embedded in our personal, social and institutional lives and reinforce to exercise prevailing beliefs. The contemporary importance of media frames as a governing power and identity creators aim to exploit the media in order to nurture political goals by restructuring the perceived politics and conflicts in the minds of people. The paper is also a prefatory alternation of conflict management where media can play an integral role as a manager. The peace and routine frames that are often less identified in modern reports can serve as substitutes to manage conflict-promoting harmony. Further, the secondary discussion revolves around the control of mass media over conflict reporting that helps formulate the public perception of political reality in different types of conflict frames. It contributes a wide range of possibilities for analysing different facets of the frames as a means of control for affecting a collective conscience, thereby creating national interest.

Abrogation of Article 370 and the Media Framing of Kashmir Conflict: A Pursuit for Re-conciliatory Approach

Objective: The study at hand attempts to analyze the media framing of J&K conflict in the context of abrogation of Article 370 along with comprehending the extent to which ideals of peace journalism can be translated into journalistic practices.
 Methodology: Quantitative analysis of the news items published in Dawn and The Nation (Pakistani media); Times of India and The Hindu (Indian media) indicated that the media framing of Kashmir conflict by the all four selected English dailies from India and Pakistan was heavily dominated by war framing.
 Findings: Findings of the qualitative interviews conducted from the Indian and Pakistani journalists indicated that the ideals of peace journalism can be translated in to journalistic practices by not justifying human rights violations and by focusing on more in-depth coverage of less visible effects of conflict. A search for common grounds among key stake holders and refraining from becoming part of propaganda were among other key factors which can play a vital role in practicing peace journalism.
 Implications: Peace Journalism can be understood as a special form of responsible journalism as it has the potential to contribute in the peace process.

Conflict Framing in the News Media and Political Discussion

Though political discussion amongst citizens is central in democracy, little is known about what triggers informal political discussions and through which pathways. This article argues that citizens gain knowledge about politics when they are exposed to political conflict in the news media and that this may encourage them to participate more in political discussions conditioned by their orientation towards conflict due to potential interpersonal conflict. The indirect effect is argued to be larger on social media where behaviour is more uncivil than in face‐to‐face interactions. Based on a content analysis of news coverage and a three‐wave panel survey (n = 2,049), exposure to conflict framing is found to have a positive effect on changes in discussion frequency across social settings. The effect is mediated by knowledge and subsequently moderated by conflict avoidance: conflict non‐avoiders are more positively influenced than conflict avoiders. The indirect effect is larger in social media than in public and private settings. The wider societal implications of the results are discussed.

Framing the Affordable Healthcare Act: Examining Alternative and Mainstream Media Approaches

In recent times few issues have been as contentious as the Affordable Healthcare Act. This study analyzed media frames between the New York Times and The Alternet.Org ( N = 1772), one mainstream newspaper and one alternative news site, for the year 2012, to examine how two media outlets, different in approach and operational size, reported on the Affordable Healthcare Care Act, to demonstrate that the conflict frame dominated news coverage in both the organizations. Conflict framing emphasizes strife between individuals, and groups, and engenders cynicism which reduces attention to substantive issues. While alternative media is often seen to operate in opposition to mainstream media values, in this case, both mainstream and alterative media chose similar frames of coverage and thus audiences had little recourse to information that could have ensured a better understanding of the policy and its impact.

Framing of FeeMustFall students' protest by Daily Dispatch Newspaper and the effect on readers’ perceptions

This article sought to examine the framing of FeeMustFall protest by Daily Dispatch Newspaper (DDN) and its effect on readers' perceptions. This study adopted a mixed method of research, wherein a quantitative content analysis was used to explicate the frames of FeeMustFall stories reported by DDN while a focus group discussion, a qualitative method, was used to assess the effect of framing of FeeMustFall students' protest stories on readers’ perceptions. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed through content analysis of the DDN while qualitative data collected through focus group discussions were analyzed thematically. Content analysis of 31 FeeMustFall stories reported by DDN showed that 45.16 per cent (14) of the stories were categorized as conflict frame (CF), 29 per cent (9) as attribution of responsibility frame (ARF), 16 per cent (5) as human interest frame (HIF) while 6.45 per cent (2) and 3.23 per cent (1) were categorized as economic consequence frame (ECF) and morality frame (MF), respectively. Thematic analysis of the focus group discussions revealed that the type of news frame used for the presentation of FeeMustFall protest stories influenced the thoughts and perceptions of readers on the issue as the news frames generated similar audience frames.

Аналіз фреймів результатів дослідження білоруських і українських протестів з використанням змішаних методів

The following study analysed online articles in German media discussing protests in Ukraine in 2014 and Belarussian protests in 2020. A mixed-methods approach of combining qualitative and quantitative content analyses was used to examine frames and frame sources utilised in the articles. There were 489 articles used for the analysis. The study also examined statistically significant differences between the frequency of frames by country. A frame indicated in each story was coded as a variable (“human impact”, “powerlessness”, “moral values”, and “conflict”). The human impact frame was more common in articles regarding Belarus than in articles regarding Ukraine. The moral values frame was the least common frame in articles regarding both Ukraine and Belarus. The powerlessness frame was the most prominent for both countries. The most significant difference between the two countries was indicated regarding conflict frame utilisation. The statistical analysis shows that there is a statistically significant difference of frames covered by German media. The statistically significant difference of powerlessness frame was: 67,49% (Ukraine) and 76,74% (Belarus); in moral values frame: 2,48% (Ukraine) and 6,59% (Belarus); in the conflict frame: 24,46% (Ukraine) and 6,59% (Belarus); in human impact frame: 5,57% (Ukraine) and 10,08% (Belarus). Finally, the utilised sources by frame were indicated. Sources utilised for the powerlessness frame were international officials and local officials (in Ukraine and Belarus). Sources utilised for the human impact frame were citizens (in both Ukraine and Belarus) and oppositional politicians (Belarus only). Sources utilised for conflict frame: oppositional politicians (Ukraine only), international officials, local officials. Sources utilised for moral values frame were local celebrities, intellectual elite (Ukraine) and oppositional politicians (Belarus). Findings show that media in Germany relied mostly on politicians and international officials, while the perspective of ordinary citizens appeared to be less prominent.

News frames and their influence on political participation and media engagement - a study of the Brazilian Car Wash Operation

The recent case of a probe in Brazil that investigates bribery involving public and private companies and politicians, known as the Car Wash operation, divided the country. Part of the Brazilians saw it as a fair investigation against corruption; others perceived it as a means of political persecution. This article analyzes the effects of the media frames of the case using an online experiment. More specifically, it investigates to what extent the conflict and the issue frames instigated people to act. Those actions are qualified as political participation and media engagement. The findings show that the conflict frame deactivates people to act, depending on how supportive they are of the operation and their political preferences, whereas the issue frame triggers the opposite effect.

Framing of Kashmir Conflict in Elite Pakistani and Indian Newspapers after Revocation of Special Status of the Disputed Territory

Purpose: India, using its legislative powers, divided Jammu and Kashmir J&K into two separate territories under federal control by revoking Article 370 that had given a special status to the disputed territory. This move stirred isolation and suppression in the people of the valley. The purpose of the study is to comprehend the peace and war framing of the Kashmir conflict after the revocation of the special status of the disputed territory in the Indian and Pakistani media. The study also attempts to explore the strategic relevance of Kashmir for neighboring China.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: Framing, Peace and War Journalism theories were used in this study. Quantitative content analysis method was used to analyze the peace and war framing of the J&K conflict in Dawn and Times of India.
 Findings: Content analysis findings supported assumption that war coverage was the most highly recorded coverage pattern in both Indian and Pakistani newspapers. Dawn took a lead in peace journalism framing with 25.56% of its editorials and columns dominated with peace journalism frames whereas 11.88% editorials and columns in Times of India were dominated with peace journalism frames.
 Implications/Originality/Value: The study finds that Kashmir dispute was framed in War Journalism viewpoint in media of both the neighboring countries. This research also shows that Beijing sticks to its strategic guns by giving peaceful verbal gestures for the region’s stability.