A case for peace photojournalism in Northern Ireland: A media content analysis.

Abstract

Contemporary studies of Peace Journalism have yet to examine how photographs, as visual content captured by print media, fit within the model of Peace Journalism. In this research, a content analysis of press images was conducted using predefined methodology on newspaper coverage of the annual July 12th Drumcree Parades (Marching) in Portadown, Northern Ireland, during the pre-, intra-, and post-peace process that occurred between 1996 and 2000. In most newspapers, the proportions of both violent/aggressive and nonviolent/non-peaceful content were higher in the relatively peaceful period of 2000, as compared to their proportions in at least one of the other ‘violent’ years of 1996 and 1998. No overall trend in content was observed in relation to the level of violence across 1996 to 2000. During this period, media practice in Portadown, Northern Ireland did not support the publication of newspaper commensurate with actual level of violence in the Northern Ireland or the depictions of peace building and the peaceful resolution of conflict. The implications of these findings for the development of ‘Peace Photojournalism’ are explored.