Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Social Media “Image Operations” During the Tigray War (2020–2022) File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/12797 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.12797 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 15 Year: 2027 Number: 12797 Author-Name: Matti Pohjonen Author-Workplace-Name: Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Helsinki, Finland Author-Name: Amanuel Tesfaye Kebede Author-Workplace-Name: Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract: This article examines the use of social media images during the Tigray War (2020–2022), one of the world’s deadliest armed conflicts of the 21st century. Drawing on a corpus of 92.9 million tweets and over 500,000 images shared on Twitter, we analyse what types of images were shared by the opposing sides of the conflict and what specific functions these images served in antagonistic information campaigns. The article shows how images were used not only to amplify the opposing strategic narratives about war but also to shape the emotional or affective registers related to it. The pro-Tigray campaign relied on the heavy use of emotive images of casualties as well as images of material destruction, which, combined with the use of infographics, collectively conveyed victimhood with the goal of putting pressure on the Ethiopian government and its allies. The pro-government side, in turn, relied more on images that tried to evoke patriotism and resistance in the audience, organise protests, as well as represent a stance of anti-colonial defiance against international pressure. The article contributes to the growing literature on digital media in contemporary conflicts by proposing a novel research framework and methodology and providing original empirical findings on an understudied dimension of contemporary conflicts. Keywords: Ethiopia; image operations; social media; Tigray War; visual propaganda Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v15:y:2027:a:12797 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Title: Proxies in Print: Strategic Narratives of the Sudan Conflict in Digital Media File-URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/12577 File-Format: text/html DOI: 10.17645/mac.12577 Journal: Media and Communication Volume: 15 Year: 2027 Number: 12577 Author-Name: Téwodros W. Workneh Author-Workplace-Name: School of Communication Studies, Kent State University, USA Abstract: The Sudanese civil war exemplifies how contemporary proxy conflicts are fiercely contested within digital information ecologies. Utilizing strategic narrative theory, this study examines the structural weaponization of transnational journalism to construct the geopolitical ontology of state collapse. An interpretive analysis of 402 English-language articles from Qatar’s Al Jazeera English, the UAE’s The National, and the US’s The New York Times reveals significant divergences in narrative projection. The New York Times frames the crisis through a “global instability” index, actively legitimizing US-led diplomatic intervention. Al Jazeera English deploys an identity narrative of “state victimhood” to delegitimize rival paramilitaries and subtextually indict competing Gulf patrons. In stark contrast, The National exercises “humanitarian obfuscation,” actively depoliticizing the disaster to shield Emirati proxy interventions from international scrutiny. These findings demonstrate that democratic and authoritarian regimes alike systematically co-opt digital news platforms as soft power arsenals to dictate the geopolitical imaginaries of the Global South. Keywords: digital journalism; geopolitical newsmaking; proxy warfare; soft power; Sudan conflict Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v15:y:2027:a:12577