Media, Bullet, Media : Investigating the coverage of the 2022 conflict in Ukraine by leading Farsi-language news media in connection to peace/war journalism

Abstract: This empirical study examines the conflict coverage of two leading Farsi-language news media, Iran International and BBC Persian, regarding peace journalism (PJ) and war journalism (WJ) and the 2022 conflict in Ukraine. Drawing upon available scholarly work in the field of PJ and WJ (studies) and within a normative debate, this research argues that the existing model of PJ/WJ is dualistic and binary. Then, the study conceptualizes and suggests a new concept of semi-war journalism (SWJ), which transforms the existing dualistic model into a multi-dimensional one. The study provides a background on the Farsi-language media ecosystem. It additionally presents an intensive account of the background of the 2022 conflict in Ukraine and demonstrates that this is not a two-party conflict but a multi-party conflict. Also, the conflict has its internal roots in the Ukraine.  Conducting a literature review of the existing scholarship, the study demonstrates that a small share of the journalistic works fulfills the criteria of PJ, and the 2022 conflict in Ukraine is understudied. Apart from PJ/WJ subjects, in many other aspects, Farsi-language media are understudied as well. Qualitative content analysis of twelve news articles from the website of the media under study from their coverage of the 2022 conflict in Ukraine in six months, from February 2022 to July 2022, is conducted. The findings reveal that the dominant frame in all articles is elite-oriented reporting, in which elites are taken into consideration either as the source of information or as actors. Employing PJ/WJ and framing theory, it is concluded that Iran International’s coverage sharply leans toward WJ, with five out of six articles with the WJ approach and only one SWJ article. BBC Persian is chiefly aligned with SWJ (three articles), while it has one PJ article and two WJ. The findings of this study are in line with previous research that underscored that only a small share of conflict reporting fulfills the criteria of PJ, while it seems that, in the case of BBC Persian, there is a shift away from WJ to the two other approaches (SWJ and PJ).