Media Images of the Armed Forces: A Comparative Study of American, Indian and Pakistani Press

Abstract

Purpose of the study: This study aims to analyze and compare the media images and coverage of three countries regarding their security forces. For this purpose, researchers have examined the media image of the American Army in the New York Times, the Indian Army in Indian Express, and the Pakistani Army in The Dawn.
 Methodology: The researchers selected news stories of three sampled newspapers; New York Times, Indian Express, and The Dawn for one year from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2018 purposively for the content analysis. Spearman correlations, central tendency, frames of the stories in terms of positive, negative, and neutral have been examined. The researchers have examined coverage patterns of security forces at the object, attribute, and network levels in the light of agenda-setting theory.
 Main Findings: There are significant differences in the image of the armed forces. Indian Express covered the Indian army positively with the special emphasis on the success of the armed in internal military operations and the glorification of the military leadership. Similarly, New York Times covered the American Army favourably with a particular focus on external military operations for peace and security purposes. Whereas, The Dawn covered Pakistan Army differently.
 Applications of this study: The study will be helpful and of great importance for media owners, media regulatory bodies, military establishments, foreign and international relations. The study will also be a significant contribution towards civil-military relationships in geostrategic locations of the sub-continent. Since these countries have been involved in war-on-terror in this region as far as peace and stability are concerned, the study will be a roadmap for the peacekeeping forces.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: Few research studies have been witnessed so far on the media image of these countries. This study is new and different in nature as the military image of three different countries in terms of civil-military relationship has been measured on their mainstream media.