Fishing in the Troubled Water: Media Framing of the Human Rights Violations at Palk Bay

Abstract

This study aims at appropriating the social and print media construct and coverage of human rights violations in the post Eelam war between Indian Tamil fishermen and their conflict with Sri Lankan Navy in the Palk Bay. The alleged intrusion of the Indian trawlers into the Sri Lankan water and the rebuttal by Sri Lankan Navy leading to the torture, arrest and at times, death of Indian fishermen is being widely articulated and debated in Indian and foreign media. An attempt has been made here using the framing theory to investigate how human rights violations were constructed in Indian print media (Dinamani and The Hindu) and socials media (Twitter).