Uprising to Proxy War: How Time and Newsweek Framed the Syrian Conflict (2011-2016) from War versus Peace Journalism Perspectives

Based on the theoretical framework of Johan Galtung's war and peace journalism perspectives, this study examines framing of the Syrian conflict in Time and Newsweek. A total of 255 stories published during the five years of the conflict were analyzed for the dominant conflict frame (war versus peace frame), salient indicators of war and peace journalism and variations in framing during three significant stages of the conflict. A quantitative content analysis revealed war journalism dominated the news magazine coverage of the Syrian conflict in the United States. The analysis also shows significant differences in Time and Newsweek's coverage: Time magazine employed more war journalism indicators whereas Newsweek employed more peace journalism indicators. The study suggests that scholars should consider the type of news media and its associated characteristics such as the style of writing, space for coverage, and production time as factors that are likely to influence the preference of journalists to frame conflicts from a war over peace journalism perspective.