Analysis of Print Media: Case Study - Jammu and Kashmir

It is about the critical analysis of print media in covering the insurgency problems: case study - Jammu and Kashmir after the demise of Burhan Wani.

Running Head: Journalism
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Journalism
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Analysis of print media in covering the insurgency problems: case study - Jammu and
Kashmir after demise of Burhan Wani
The purpose of this paper is enlighten the reader with the information about the case analysis of
Jammu & Kashmir post demise of Burhan Wani. As the fact is known to all that there is no
stability in the conditions of Jammu and Kashmir and after the death of Burhan Wani, the
environment of changed. Burhan Muzaffar Wani was a commander of pro-Pakistani Islamic-
militant association Hizbul Mujahideen present in Indian Kashmir. After Burhan’s death, the
conditions of Jammu and Kashmir was highly affected in political as social aspects as well.
Further, print media took a crucial role in spreading the information and influencing people in
Jammu and Kashmir. More details about the analysis of print media on the given case study is
mentioned below:
Media is the source through which crucial information is circulated in the environment. Media
plays a leading role in influencing people and spreading awareness in the society. Several ways
through which information is circulated in the environment are social media, print media,
broadcast media etc. Print media involves the use of newspaper and magazines to share
information to large community at a time. Print media is one of the oldest forms of mass media
communication that engages people and let them rely on the information shared. Information
shared through print media is believed by people because newspapers and magazines are looked
as a reliable source that has gained trust of people in the environment1.
Mass media has become an awakening way to help people get associated with current trends
prevailing in worldwide environment. Media also gives a voice to common man as it provides
them a platform to share their voice and get heard. Media works as a platform that shares the
opinion of public with the rest of the world. Thus, it can be said that the information is truly
presented to people in fair and just manner while the opinion of activist and other people is also
circulated in the worldwide environment2.
Just like in the given case of Burhan Wani, people did not knew the outcomes of the demise of
his death on Jammu and Kashmir but the predictions and statements of journalists and activists
1 Vartanova, E.L. and Smirnov, S.S., 2018. On The Current Importance And Challenges Of Quantitative Studies Of
Russian Media. Научный журнал, p.219.
2 Graber, D.A. and Dunaway, J., 2017. Mass media and American politics. Cq Press.

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clearly explained the situation to the general public. Resulting in which, awareness was spread in
the environment and people started taking measures proactively. Media and communication
became a dangerous tool for people that presented true information about the activities
happening in the society. This also made people minimize their negative actions as it might
appear in the news and get circulated as well. Thus, it should be noted that in this way, mass
media and media communication became an important part of people’s life3.
Analysing print media in the given case, it should be noted that print media is important in the
society because it let the people attain view about the activities occurring in their surroundings.
Print media also helps people to read news in their regional language as well. Resulting in which,
use of regional language helps the people to attain better understanding about the news spreading
in the environment and take it seriously as well. Also, it should be noted even the social media is
a part of print media only because social media pages many times share information that is
printed on newspaper and magazines. Print media has become an integral part of the life of
people as they have become habitual of reading news through newspaper and magazines
irrespective of any genre. Print media also supports the organizations to promote their products
and services in the most cost effective manner which is better than television4.
3 Büyükbaykal, C.I., 2016. Importance of Culture and Art Journalism Education Today. Journalism, 6(10), pp.575-
584.
4 Humprecht, E. and Esser, F., 2018. Diversity in online news: On the importance of ownership types and media
system types. Journalism Studies, 19(12), pp.1825-1847.

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Analysing the case of Burhan Wani, it should be noted that this personality attracted people
(mainly youth) through social media. He actively used social media to convey his message in the
environment and let them fight in Kashmir against soldiers. Burhan fought against the Indian
soldiers in the year 2016 where he was finally was attacked by the soldiers and got killed. This
time span was considered to be the worst time of insurgency since the year 2010. Resulting to the
demise of Burhan Wani in Kashmir, the crowd became anxious which further led to 96 more
deaths in the society and 15000 civilians getting injured. Along with Burhan, there were two
other militants was were being killed in the insurgency naming Sartaj Ahmad Sheikh and Pervaiz
Ahmad Lashkari5. Burhan and his accomplices had come to Kokernag with an objective to attain
illegal weapons for their purposes; however, the Jammu and Kashmir police performed
insurgency in the village itself.
The police further explained that the common people were helping Burhan and resisting to the
actions of officials. Thus, it can be said that the negative influence of Burhan was extremely high
due to which people started stone pelting. Local people of Kokernag clearly stated that they had
no idea of militants presence in their location. Talking about the reaction of people in Jammu and
Kashmir after the death of Burhan Wani, it should be noted that large crowd attended the funeral
5 Mistry, M., 2016. Kashmir in crisis–before and after the killing of Burhan Wani. South Asia@ LSE.

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on 9 July which explained their devotion towards him. Large number of people nearly to 2 lakhs
attended Burhan Wani’s funeral. This event was captured by reporters and was considered to be
one of the largest gatherings ever happened in Jammu and Kashmir. People in different towns of
Kashmir recited the prayer for Burhan and his body was wrapped in a Pakistani flag6.
Burhan Wani was given a funeral in a way that he was a solider and was performing good deeds
for his nation and the society. However, the situation was vice versa where Burhan Wani used to
influence people in Jammu and Kashmir so that they could work against the Indian government
and soldiers. As soon as the news of Burhan Wani spread in the air, people started reacting
differently and started stone pelting Indian soldiers. Violent actions were performed even by
children present in the due, resulting in which the separatist leaders had to shutdown the situation
of Kashmir so as to stop the violence in the society and let people get detach from the influence
of Burhan Wani on them. However, even after the death of Burhan Wani, people were unable to
understand the difference between right and wrong for them because they were brainwashed. As
a result of insurgency, the local people of Jammu and Kashmir who were connected to or were
under the influence of Burhan Wani started throwing stones at the police stations and other
security forces7.
The officials were getting attacked by mob and people were even throwing stones at the transit
camp of Kashmiri pandits. In order to prevent the news from spreading negatively, the
government also barred internet services in that area along with train services for the prospect
location as well. It was difficult to believe by the Indian government that such a huge ratio of
people Jammu and Kashmir were under the influence of Burhan Wani8. Considering the worst
case scenario, if Wani would not have died and in-fact, if he would have gotten a chance to
perform his illegal actions in Jammu and Kashmir, then he might would has blasted whole city
with an objective to wipe out Indian nationality among people. The Indian pandits living in
Kashmir were attacked by the protesters even when they did not played any role in the demise of
6 Khan, A. and Khan, A., 2020. From Burhan Wani to Abhi Nandan: A Comparative Analysis of India and
Pakistan’s Newspaper Coverage of Kashmir Conflict. NUST Journal of International Peace and Stability.
7 Brännlund, E. and Parashar, S., 2018. Gender and resistance in Kashmir: old paradigms, new
approaches. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 20(4), pp.645-647.
8 Hartwell, F.A., 2017. Burhan Wani and the Masculinities of the Indian State. Journal of Extreme
Anthropology, 1(3), pp.125-138.

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Burhan Wani’s death. Even the spiritual locations in India like Amarnath were being suspended
and resumed for a long period of time9.
Due to unsettling conditions in Kashmir, the government imposed curfew for approx. 45 days.
Omar Abdullah, being the former Chief minister of the state explained that the insurgency of
Burhan Wani would lead problems for the Indian government itself. His death would be recalled
as an iconic sacrifice by a militant in order to save his peers. This action would let many people
get influenced in Jammu and Kashmir and more people will ditch their motherland work with
Wani’s teams to take revenge from Indian soldiers. The Prime Minister of the nation slammed
media for creating a scenario as if Burhan Wani was an icon who died as iconic death. Whereas,
the Pakistani new reporter also depicted Burhan Wani as an icon who lived his life for the
mission and died for it as well. Pakistan was the newspaper that praised the death of Wani and
calling him as a national hero10.
Thus, it can be stated that the death of Burhan Wani created a strong impact on the min-set of
people living in Jammu and Kashmir in both positive and negative ways. On one hand, people
were happy that the Indian soldiers are performing brave acts by killing the terrorists in J&K one
by one, while on the other hand, many people were devastated with the actions of the Indian
army due to which they started resisting in the environment. Considering the impact of print
media in this whole scenario, it should be noted that due to curfew, social media was not
working but print media was only was gather news details in the state11.
Resulting in which, the newspapers became a heavily reliable sources in the state and people
started acting accordingly. The demise of Burhan Wani appeared more like a shock to the people
than happy news, resulting in which, this expression was further depicted through the paper. The
fact should be noted that in no way news of insurgency of a militant could appear as a shock
because firstly, it is secretive because it is surgical and secondly, the Indian soldiers killed a
9 Zutshi, C., 2017. Seasons of Discontent and Revolt in Kashmir. Current History, 116(789), p.123.
10 Siddiqua, A. and Yousafzai, F.U., 2019. A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Coverage of Human Rights
Violations in Indian held Kashmir. Kashmir Journal of Language Research, 22(1).
11 Misri, D., 2019. Showing humanity: violence and visuality in Kashmir. Cultural Studies, 33(3), pp.527-549.

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militant which is a good news for people. However, the news confused the people that whether
they should be happy or sad about the insurgency12.
Also, the print media played a negative role in the given case by stating the facts to people in
more threatening ways. The outcomes of Wani’s death were presented in news that increased
terror among the people due to which they started feeling unsafe in J & K. The print media
became voice of the people who were associated with Burhan Wani due to which, it can be said
that they made wrong use of their powers13. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that news
companies present in J & K idealized the death of Burhan Wani as they made him a hero among
people present in Jammu and Kashmir. The role of news media is to provide true and fair
information to people and do not get involved in terrorist activities while presenting fair and
resourceful information to people in the environment. The news industry in Jammu and Kashmir
made wrong use of their powers by writing articles against the Indian soldiers in such a way that
they victimize Burhan Wani and state that his death was unreasonable14.
The media could have easily used the death of Burhan Wani to show that what the Indian
soldiers would do if people think of going against the harmony of country. Print media has a
powerful impact on the society; it could have even played a major role stopping people
performing violent actions in the society. Print media could have been used to warn people not
performing such actions in the environment and explaining the negative deeds performed by
Burhan Wani in the society. The print media depicted Burhan Wani as an iconic hero however,
they could have used this platform to show the negative action performed by Burhan in the
Indian environment15.
Considering the advantages of print media, it should be noted that it has a large spread in the
society. Large number of people read the news presented on magazines and newspaper and talk
about it during their free time. As internet was blocked in the Jammu and Kashmir environment,
12 Wahl-Jorgensen, K., 2019. The challenge of local news provision. Journalism, 20(1), pp.163-166.
13 Amar, A., 2017. Hindi Print Media Content Analysis Of Bhopal Gas Tragedy: In The Context Of Reflect And
Effect Study Of Media On Society. Dev Sanskriti Interdisciplinary International Journal, 9, pp.01-10.
14 Sarwar, M.S. and Shahzad, A., 2019. Impact of Electronic Media, Print Media and Interpersonal Communication
on Voters’ Decision Making in Punjab Pakistan. Pakistan Vision, 20(1), p.1.
15 Gordon, F., 2018. Print Media Content Analysis: Language, Imagery and Prominent Themes. In Children, Young
People and the Press in a Transitioning Society (pp. 75-111). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

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due to which print media became the lead role in influencing the mind-set of people and let them
understand the critical condition as well. In the given case analysis, the print media played an
extremely negative role as the areas where they could have influenced the people to think in the
right direction, the media expressed the event in the wrong way. Thus, it should be noted that the
print media also plays a small role in making the conditions of Jammu and Kashmir worse16.
Print media is a source of awareness where people could get influence and look at the trends
prevailing in the environment and attain a fair view about the given case. Whereas the print
media played a negative role in maintaining peaceful conditions in the society while people were
furious after the demise of Burhan Wani. There are several activists present in the Jammu and
Kashmir environment who guide the people in both positive and negative ways which they do to
get them on their side and make use of it as well. The print media holds the responsibility in the
share to fair news along with awareness, however, in the given case, media held the opportunity
to guide people time to time that the soldiers are not their rivals and they are working to
eliminate terrorism from their state. Print media could have distracted people from getting
influenced by people like Burhan Wani17.
It is the behaviour of people and society in general that need some truth or guidelines to believe
on them and their affection is generation towards them. Therefore, print media in Jammu and
Kashmir could have easily used this tendency of human behaviour and could have motivated
them to think in the positive direction but the media instead let Wani took the limelight even
before his death. The media printed insurgency report without praising the soldiers who fought
against their life to kill a terrorist, instead the news was flashed only about Wani’s demise. If the
media had shown Indian soldiers as the warriors and iconic heros, then they would have not
faced severe stone pelting. It is reasonable to believe that people in general were under strong
influence of people like Wani but the print media is a discretionary association that do not work
under the guidelines or burden of any association. Therefore, the print media could have used the
power vested in their hands to influence people in the right direction18.
16 Toor, S.I. and Saleem, N., 2020. Print Media and Politics: A Comparative Study of Three Leading Pakistani
Political Parties in General Elections. Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan–Vol. No, 57(1).
17 Fortunati, L. and O'Sullivan, J., 2019. Situating the social sustainability of print media in a world of digital
alternatives. Telematics and Informatics, 37, pp.137-145.
18 Mudgal, R. and Rana, P., 2019. Readers’ Choices Among Print and E-Newspapers. Journal of Management
(JOM), 6(4).

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Thus, it should be noted that along with several powers, there comes responsibilities in the
society as well. It is the need of the era to motivate people in the right direction so as to resolve
the issues prevailing in the society. Print media holds great power to conduct a war in the nation
just by using some tough words. Therefore, the media should consider their language and
expressions wisely before representing any information to people. The print media should
consider the impact of such news on general public and how they would react to the case.
Therefore, the information should be presented to people in such a way that it does not harm
their interest and does not let them develop negative thoughts for any association present in the
environment19.
As mentioned above, that the media industry need to monitor their actions properly while
depiction such news in the community. Considering the given case of demise of Burhan, it
should be noted that if media would have played a positive role, then the condition of Jammu and
Kashmir could have been different. Representing through print media that insurgency as the best
way to deal with terrorists could have saved the lives on many people. The print media could
have appealed the people to leave the civilians, as it was not their fight. Thus, until next time, it
is recommended to print media to create a mind-set among the people of Jammu and Kashmir
that any person or association that favours terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir is wrong and would
be treated in the same way that Burhan Wani was treated because it is the right thing to do for the
officials20.
Also, the print media should depict the Indian army and police officers as the real heros who
fight for what is right in the society. People should get influenced in the environment only by the
words spread through print media and not by any other way or any other person as well. This
would subsequently improve the condition of Jammu and Kashmir and would let print media to
work on its role and responsibilities as well21.
19 Mustaffa, N., Sannusi, S.N., Hasan, A.S.A. and Saad, M.Z.M., 2017. Journalism and News Industry in Malaysia:
New Media, New Challenges. e-Bangi, 14(6).
20 Deuze, M. and Witschge, T., 2018. Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of
journalism. Journalism, 19(2), pp.165-181.
21 Waisbord, S., 2019. The vulnerabilities of journalism. Journalism, 20(1), pp.210-213.

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Thus in the limelight of above mentioned event, it should be noted that the above mentioned
critical essay analysed the impact of print media in the society. The case of death of Burhan
Wani was used in the paper to analyse the role of print media in the society and its power to shift
the belief of people from one thing to another. The case represented that the print media of
Jammu and Kashmir did not actually participated in the event. Infact, the media represented
Wani as an iconic hero for which they were also cautioned by Prime Minister of the nation.
Thus, it should be noted that print media holds a strong power to influence large number of
people at large and they should do that so as to keep the interest of people positive and action
and make them focused towards right direction in the society.

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References
Amar, A., 2017. Hindi Print Media Content Analysis Of Bhopal Gas Tragedy: In The Context Of
Reflect And Effect Study Of Media On Society. Dev Sanskriti Interdisciplinary International
Journal, 9, pp.01-10.
Brännlund, E. and Parashar, S., 2018. Gender and resistance in Kashmir: old paradigms, new
approaches. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 20(4), pp.645-647.
Büyükbaykal, C.I., 2016. Importance of Culture and Art Journalism Education
Today. Journalism, 6(10), pp.575-584.
Deuze, M. and Witschge, T., 2018. Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of
journalism. Journalism, 19(2), pp.165-181.
Fortunati, L. and O'Sullivan, J., 2019. Situating the social sustainability of print media in a world
of digital alternatives. Telematics and Informatics, 37, pp.137-145.
Gordon, F., 2018. Print Media Content Analysis: Language, Imagery and Prominent Themes.
In Children, Young People and the Press in a Transitioning Society (pp. 75-111). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.
Graber, D.A. and Dunaway, J., 2017. Mass media and American politics. Cq Press.
Hartwell, F.A., 2017. Burhan Wani and the Masculinities of the Indian State. Journal of Extreme
Anthropology, 1(3), pp.125-138.
Humprecht, E. and Esser, F., 2018. Diversity in online news: On the importance of ownership
types and media system types. Journalism Studies, 19(12), pp.1825-1847.
Khan, A. and Khan, A., 2020. From Burhan Wani to Abhi Nandan: A Comparative Analysis of
India and Pakistan’s Newspaper Coverage of Kashmir Conflict. NUST Journal of International
Peace and Stability.
Misri, D., 2019. Showing humanity: violence and visuality in Kashmir. Cultural Studies, 33(3),
pp.527-549.
Mistry, M., 2016. Kashmir in crisis–before and after the killing of Burhan Wani. South Asia@
LSE.

Journalism 11
Mudgal, R. and Rana, P., 2019. Readers’ Choices Among Print and E-Newspapers. Journal of
Management (JOM), 6(4).
Mustaffa, N., Sannusi, S.N., Hasan, A.S.A. and Saad, M.Z.M., 2017. Journalism and News
Industry in Malaysia: New Media, New Challenges. e-Bangi, 14(6).
Sarwar, M.S. and Shahzad, A., 2019. Impact of Electronic Media, Print Media and Interpersonal
Communication on Voters’ Decision Making in Punjab Pakistan. Pakistan Vision, 20(1), p.1.
Siddiqua, A. and Yousafzai, F.U., 2019. A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Coverage of
Human Rights Violations in Indian held Kashmir. Kashmir Journal of Language
Research, 22(1).
Toor, S.I. and Saleem, N., 2020. Print Media and Politics: A Comparative Study of Three
Leading Pakistani Political Parties in General Elections. Journal of the Research Society of
Pakistan–Vol. No, 57(1).
Vartanova, E.L. and Smirnov, S.S., 2018. On The Current Importance And Challenges Of
Quantitative Studies Of Russian Media. Научный журнал, p.219.
Wahl-Jorgensen, K., 2019. The challenge of local news provision. Journalism, 20(1), pp.163-
166.
Waisbord, S., 2019. The vulnerabilities of journalism. Journalism, 20(1), pp.210-213.
Zutshi, C., 2017. Seasons of Discontent and Revolt in Kashmir. Current History, 116(789),
p.123.