Media Polarization and Communal Escalation: A Comparative Analysis of Digital Journalism in Fragmented Polities

Global Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies | Vol. 7, No. 7, July 2016 | pp. 613–621

DOI: 10.46882/2016/GJPCS/000090

Article Type: Original Research Paper

Title: Media Polarization and Communal Escalation: A Comparative Analysis of Digital Journalism in Fragmented Polities

Names of Authors: Kenji Takahashi¹, Rajesh Kumar²

Authors’ Affiliations: ¹Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan; ²Department of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Abstract: Abstract: Digital news organizations can function either as objective instruments of peace journalism or as powerful structural accelerators of ethno-religious polarization during national political crises. This study presents a comparative content analysis of crisis framing across print and algorithmic news distribution platforms in two ethnically fragmented societies. We analyzed 800 digitized media outputs published during periods of acute communal tension between 2012 and 2015 using standardized content framing matrices. Media framing was categorized into war journalism parameters (provocative, rumor-centric) and peace journalism parameters (conciliatory, verification-centric). The empirical results show a heavy reliance on sensationalist war journalism frameworks, which constitute 76% of the sampled digital content. Quantitative tracking reveals that spikes in high-intensity exclusionary online headlines correlate with a measurable increase in localized physical communal violence metrics within a 48-hour window (r = 0.64, p < 0.01). The paper concludes that corporate advertising-revenue algorithms systematically incentivize polarizing content. The study recommends establishing non-partisan digital journalism verification networks.

Keywords: Media Polarization, Communal Escalation, Digital Journalism, Content Analysis, Peace Journalism, Algorithmic Exploitation, Fragmented Polities

Manuscript Timeline: Received: February 14, 2016; Revised: April 05, 2016; Accepted: May 12, 2016; Published: July 04, 2016

Citation: Takahashi, K., & Kumar, R. (2016). Media Polarization and Communal Escalation: A Comparative Analysis of Digital Journalism in Fragmented Polities. Global Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies, 7(7), 613–621. DOI: 10.46882/2016/GJPCS/000090

Subscribe to read the full article: https://internationalscholarsjournals.org/subscribe-to-read