U.S. Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan: War and Peace Journalism in Pakistani Media

Abstract

When it comes to reporting on war and conflict, according to Galtung (1986, 1998), there are two conflicting frames, war journalism and peace journalism. War journalists cover conflict by reporting it in a way that promotes violence, dominance, and an elitist viewpoint. Peace journalists, on the other hand, report proactively on the reasons and solutions to conflicts, providing all sides with a voice via responsible Media. The present study analyzes how Dawn and the Nation depict U.S. Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan. This study focuses on the war and peace inclination of the Pakistani print media. The war and peace journalism model proposed by Johan Galtung is used to guide this research (1986). Peace journalism strives to de-escalate war and violence, promote peace, and offer opportunities for dispute resolution. A quantitative content analysis was used to examine the two newspapers' coverage for one month, from August 01, 2021, to August 31, 2021. The findings of the study revealed that the coverage of the Nation was heavily war-oriented, with a percentage of 69.2%, while Dawn's coverage was peace-oriented, with 53.7% of its contents falling in that category.