Media Coverage of Pak-India Standoff 2002: An Analysis

Abstract

The 2002 military standoff between Pakistan and India was triggered due to the attack on Indian parliament on Dec 13, 2001. For several month hundreds and thousands of soldiers stood eyeball-to-eyeball in one of the biggest military mobilization. There were moments when it was feared that the war was imminent. But better sense prevailed and the standoff, which has started in January, 2002, veered off by October same year. Thus, another potential war was averted between the nuclear-armed neighbors. Media aggressively covered the confrontation, especially when the tension was at peak. Through partisan coverage, media also sharpened the differences and crystallized the animosity. The study has gone through the selected English-language newspapers of both countries over selected days from January to October in 2002 to gauge the nature of coverage. It shows that the coverage in the mainstream media of both Pakistan and India was titled towards national sentiments. If Indian media sought revenge against parliament attack, Pakistani media pushed for a matching response in retaliation to India‟s mobilization of army. The coverage increased during the height of tension but it decreased drastically when became clear that there will be no war.