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Abstract
This study examines 141 photographs of conflict victims in Kashmir and Yemen from two Pakistani English newspapers, "Dawn" and "The Express Tribune," during 2019. The analysis found that Kashmiri victims were more frequently humanized in the photographs compared to Yemeni victims, with a greater use of close-up and medium shots. Meanwhile, Yemeni victims were more often depicted through long shots, which suggests dehumanization. Additionally, the study found that men received more coverage in the Yemen conflict, while women were portrayed more often in the Kashmir conflict to generate audience sympathy. Violent events were the most commonly reported topic in both newspapers
Key Words:
Victims; Conflicts in Kashmir and Yemen; Pakistani Press; Friends vs Foes; Humanization
Introduction
Though many researchers have analyzed media texts for the reporting of victims in conflicts, visual analysis have not been frequently utilized. Scholars on the other hand, have emphasized to study the visual portrayal of conflict situations as well as the images of victims depicted in media. Studies have shown that media consider certain news values for selecting worthy and unworthy images for the depiction of victims in any conflict. When victims are visually reported, they are humanized or dehumanized. Either the victims are being utilized to gain certain jingoistic purposes, or they are actually portrayed in a way that can lead to the resolution of the conflict. Keeping this perspective in mind, in this study, we analyze visual reporting of victims in two conflicts: Kashmir conflict and Yemen conflict. Pakistan has conflicting relations with the two aggressors in these conflict—India is a declared enemy and contrastingly Saudi Arabia is a friend. The primary goal of this research is to critically analyse the essential elements of victim reporting in visual form and to compare and contrast victim reporting in the two conflicts as well as in the selected newspapers.
Since India's freedom, Kashmir has become a source of tension between Pakistan and India. Three wars between the two nations—in 1948, 1965, and the 1999 Kargil War—have taken place. According to different estimates, more than 40,000 have been killed in the region. Similarly, the Yemen conflict started in 2015 and has been a result of the discord between an international coalition of Arabian Gulf escorted by Saudi Arabia, and Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi led Houthi movement. It has become turmoil at humanitarian basis which is felt globally, as approximately 10 million Yemenis have severely suffered this crisis. There have been innumerable reports regarding human rights violation, where women and children undergo relentless traumas (Al Naami & Moodley, 2017). In this civil war, Saudi-led coalition has been killing thousands of inhabitants with inconsistent airstrikes and has been involved in structural damage against the war laws, under the support of U.S.A, U.K and other governments (Holt, 2020).
Literature Review: Visual Reporting of Conflicts
Conflicts are the outcome of the negation of the fundamental human necessities regarding existence, health, recognition and liberty of life. Violence originates from conflict, but instead of controlling violence, to achieve harmony, it is crucial to understand what causes conflicts in the first place (Hussain, 2017). Brati? (2006) believes that when there is a conflict, the perspective of the people changes according to the depiction of that conflict in media. Media manipulates the receiver’s mind when it comes to the either advocating war or disinformation. According to (Rodriguez & Dimitrova, 2011), conventional media has interests in inciting the conflicts because of financial gains. The decision makers tend to promote a political cause by the use of media to get civilian favor and dissuading rivals, while media conglomerates manipulate information through media for financial gains as well as for journalistic stance of shedding more light on newsworthiness of the conflict. Papadopoulos (2008) is of the view contrary to the idea that images of war are merely used as "markers or cues" to enhance the narratives, that photographs express themselves in their own unique manner.
According to Berinsky and Kinder, "Framing" refers to the careful selection of information by the aristocracy for the general public to ingest through media (Berinsky & Kinder, 2006). Entman (1991) discusses how images and photographs might be used in the media to emphasise or minimise the victims or any particular group. Images reflect societal truths, but because they can imitate reality, they can also be used to manipulate people and serve as a tool for framing. (Messaris & Abraham, 2001) claim that viewers have a propensity to accept the mediated world depicted in images despite being completely unaware of the impact of visual framing. This media strategy has particular importance because of this.
Shahira Fahmy mentioned the "visual gatekeeping" technique, which entails selecting a few images from a large collection of photographs based on their ability to convey an alluring story (Fahmy 2005). The "power of images" in relation to a violent fight in a political context was another topic Mitchell covered. According to media researchers and theorists who study art, there is always a reflection of society, mindset, self-awareness, and views that are "framed" and "re-framed" by media organisations and policy makers (Mitchell, 1995).
The shared, consistent collection of beliefs that constitute the "visual frames" of a community shape that society and its system (Messaris, 2001). Shahira Fahmy explains the specialisation of visuals in which she focuses on some potent visual devices like "social semiotics," "iconicity," and "indexicality" that are used for framing. Images presented with the aid of these tools can effectively communicate a philosophy intended for the audience, which, if expressed in words, could cause a controversy (Fahmy, 2010).
Entman adds that the audience’s interpretations can either be persuaded or dissuaded in one way or the other, by the use of specific selected pictures and verbal expressions (Entman, 1993). Susan Sontag, a philosopher, is of the opinion that words can arouse annoyance and rage, but that the visual context also affects perception. This is according to Judith Butler. It can forcibly produce a representation that elicits rage and fear in reaction to the suffering depicted (Butler, 2007). Another study by James N. Druckman found that images in media are portrayed in specific ways to convey conflict situations. These images include photographs as well as verbal symbols and expressions (Druckman, 2001).
There is no denying the power of media pictures, according to (Fahmy & Neumann, 2012). Unlike words, which cannot have such an influence on the audience's memory, it does (Paivio & Csapo, 1973). Photographs can stimulate a more heightened form of cognition (Lynn, Shavitt, & Ostrom, 1985). When it comes to the selection of information, it is mainly the idea of adding or omitting the news that needs to be framed (Cartwright, J., 2006). A study was done by Shahira Fahmy where Iraq war was studied from the angle of visual analysis, in New York Times and the Guardian, and there was a contrast between the two newspapers in depicting and framing the same conflict (Fahmy, 2010)
(Tsakiris et al 2019) talk about the use of certain visual frames in depicting the humans in dehumanized manner. They studied the portrayal of refugees in media and how they are framed as unworthy victims in certain images. Some researchers and theorists are also of the same view. In another study, (Kempf, 1997) highlights that the policy makers decide and select the images to be framed in media according to the nationalistic stance. There were just a few images that depicted the contradictory visual frames in conflict situations.
According to Judith Butler, audience is bound to interpret the information disseminated by media through the coercive frame designed by it. It transmits a learned behavior to the people that restrict them from having a perspective out of that particular frame. In the war or conflict situation, media has the power to “thematize” the idea and controls the sensory reactions of the audience. It can include cultures that dehumanise people. Butler adds that "visual interpretation" occasionally does not condense the frame of reference where pictures can be critically analysed, and a photograph is analysed from various angles. (Butler, 2007).
Images are used for framing because they can reflect life's realities, but they are always portrayed subjectively, claim Messaris and Abraham (2001). They have the ability to persuade an audience to accept the way a news story is presented and to view the story from a specific perspective (Wilmott, 2017). Due to the lifelike nature of the images, people are unaware of the visual framing and are therefore more likely to be told about the verbal framing of news. (Mandell & Shaw, 1973).
Research Questions
RQ 1: How the victims in the selected conflicts in Kashmir and Yemen are framed?
RQ 2: What are the differences between the two conflicts in terms of reporting gender of the victims?
RQ 3: How are the victims visually portrayed through camera angles in terms of nationality?
RQ 4: What are the major topics through which the selected newspapers are reporting the two conflicts?
RQ 5: Is there a difference of the graphic depiction of the victims in selected conflicts in Kashmir and Yemen?
Method
In this research, we looked at images of victims in the chosen conflicts using visual content analysis. The images were retrieved from web editions of The Express Tribune and Dawn. Census Approach was used for the sampling procedure where the whole population was the sample. The time duration for the study was from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019. As far as these two conflicts are concerned, this time frame was chosen because it saw a number of significant events.
Findings
Out of 141 images analyzed, 88 images were from “Dawn” newspaper and 53 images were from “The Express Tribune” newspaper. The coding sheet was designed and prepared according to the variables and the collected data was analyzed through SPSS software. Other than searching news trends for the images on both the newspaper websites, there were search terms like “Yemen conflict”, “Yemen crisis”, “Yemen victims”, “Kashmir conflict”, “Kashmir unrest”, “LOC attacks”, “Kashmir victims” etc. Below are the results of the study.
RQ1: How the victims in the selected conflicts in Kashmir and Yemen are framed?
Table 1. Images Depicting the Victims in Conflicts in Kashmir and Yemen
| Conflicts width="267" colspan="2">Frames width="93">Total width="103">Chi square | > width="135"> Worthy/ Humanized width="132">Unworthy/ Dehumanized width="93">width="103" rowspan="4"> 85.35 align="center">p value align="center">.000 | > Kashmir width="135">108 (94.7%) width="132">6 (5.3%) width="93">114 | > Yemen width="135">4 (14.8%) width="132">23 (85.2%) width="93">27 | > Total width="135">112 width="132">29 width="93">141 |
Table 1 depicts the images were coded depicting the framing of victims in conflict, where the visual narratives of the two newspapers were analyzed as well as compared. In this table, the frequency and percentages of images depicting the conflicts in Kashmir and Yemen showing Nationality and Frames were analyzed. Statistically this data is significant as it shows the tilt towards 108 (94.7%) humanized Kashmiri victims and this sample can be applied to the whole population, still we believe we will be having this difference. Notwithstanding how much stories and pictures we actually select, Kashmiris would be predominantly humanized as compared to the Yemenis. The the low p value for chi square suggests that the difference between the two categories is significant. The Kashmiri nationals are humanized where the results show that 108 (94.7%) victims out of 114 were portrayed as worthy, whereas Yemeni nationals are dehumanized as the results show that 23 (85.2%) out of 27 victims
were portrayed as unworthy.
RQ 2: How are the victims visually portrayed through camera angles in terms of their nationality?
Table 2. Nationality-wise distribution of Camera Angles
| Camera Angle width="228" colspan="2">Nationality width="87">Total width="98">Chi square | > width="126"> Kashmir width="102">Yemen width="87">width="98" rowspan="7"> 54.6 align="center">p value align="center">.000 | > width="125"> Close-up (Intimate) width="126">43 (95.5%) width="102">2 (4.4%) width="87">45 | > Medium (Social) width="126">58 (92.1%) width="102">5 (7.9%) width="87">63 | > Long Shot (Stranger) width="126">12 (42.8%) width="102">16 (57.1%) width="87">28 | > High Angle width="126">0 (0%) width="102">4 (100%) width="87">4 | > Low Angle width="126">1 (100%) width="102">0 (0%) width="87">1 | > Total width="126">114 width="102">27 width="87">141 | |||
| Type of Newspaper width="298" colspan="5">Topics width="50">Total width="82">Chi square | > width="60"> Violent Events width="65">Protests width="65">Warnings (Curfew) width="55">Economy width="55">Not Specified/Unclear width="50">width="82" rowspan="4"> 8.40 align="center">p value align="center">.054 | > width="109"> Dawn width="60">54 (61.4%) width="65">15 (17.04%) width="65">15 (17.04%) width="55">3 (3.4%) width="55">1 (1.13%) width="50">88 | > The Express Tribune width="60">24 (45.3%) width="65">16 (30.2%) width="65">10 (18.9%) width="55">0 (0%) width="55">3 (5.7%) width="50">53 | > Total width="60">78 width="65">31 width="65">25 width="55">3 width="55">4 width="50">141 | |||