Constructing Conflict through Words: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Lexical Framing and Agency in Global Media Coverage of the 2025 India–Pakistan Air Clash

Abstract

This study critically analyzes how the ten big media houses discursively produced India-Pakistan air clash in 2025 using the tools of language. This study is interested in the text level in Fairclough's (1992, 1995) Three-Dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model. Three aspects of language are analysed: the lexical structuring of conflict intensity and legitimacy; metaphoric or rhetorical structuring of the conflict; syntactic features such as passivisation, modals and hedging. The 10 news articles selected for the week were from CNN, Al Jazeera, Reuters, The New York Times, TRT Global, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Asia Times and Middle East Eye. The analysis of data was carried out using a self-designed analytical framework based on the works of Fairclough (1995), Charteris-Black (2004), van Dijk (1998), and van Leeuwen (2008) which focused on the textual level. The analysis shows that Pakistan military used words like 'act of war,' 'retaliation,' and 'battlefield achievement ' in all the sources to dramatize the war and build the agency of Pakistan military as powerful and technologically sound. The conflict was brought into the spotlight of a symbolic East–West ideological struggle through a series of dramatic metaphors, like 'ticking flashpoint,' 'dogfight,' and 'arms race. The passive voice was used to depict military operations in Pakistan, whereas the Indian agency was camouflaged using passive voice and institutional silence. Hedging and modality were used as tools that reflect a superficial neutrality of journalists and allowed to subtly influence perceptions of legitimacy and responsibility. The findings validate Fairclough's claim that there is no neutral language in the media, which is ideologically and politically formed and determined by power.

Keywords: India–Pakistan conflict, Critical Discourse Analysis, international media, lexical choices, metaphors, modality, passive voice, Fairclough's model, war reporting, geopolitical framing