Peace Journalism in Nonviolent Scenarios: A Case Study of ‘Asiya BiBi’ and IMF Loan Issues on Facebook

Abstract

This study investigates how Asiya Bibi and IMF loan-taking issues in Pakistan are projected in posts
and comments on the selected Facebook pages in terms of conflict escalation and de-escalation.
This study seeks to determine how and to what extent the practices of peace journalism are
exercised on Facebook during nonviolent interactions regarding the selected issues. The posts and
comments on the official Facebook pages of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) have been analyzed. This study presents a comparative analysis of 1107 posts
and comments of PML-N and PTI on Facebook pages in the first hundred days of the PTI
government regarding the two issues. The content was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.
Three categories were developed in terms of conflict escalation and three in terms of de-escalation.
Results show that both issues are not projected on Facebook pages according to the standards of
peace journalism theory. Results also show that the content on PTI's official Facebook page is less
conflict-oriented than that of PML-N official Facebook page.