Representing Afghan Refugees in Pakistani Press: Mapping out War or Peace Journalism

Abstract

Based on content analysis, the present study explored Afghan refugees' war/peace
journalism orientation in two leading English language newspapers published in
Pakistan, i.e., Dawn and The News, from January 2018 to July 2018. Using Johan
Galtunic's theoretical model (1986, 1989) and the categories developed by Hussain and
Zubair's (2017) model for data analysis, the researchers analyzed how the English
national press in Pakistan is framing the issue of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Findings
of the study show that coverage of Afghan refugees in both the Pakistani English Daily
newspapers was more closely aligned with war journalism approaches than with peace
journalism approaches. Consequently, Media coverage has represented refugees as the
subject of negativity. Additionally, this study also highlights the salient indicators of
war/peace in media representation of refugees in news media of Pakistan. The current
study adds to the existing literature on conflict journalism, particularly peace
journalism.