Framing the Afghanistan War: A Comparative Analysis of the Coverage of Four Australian Newspapers 2008 to 2013

The Afghanistan War (2001-2021), the most protracted military commitment in Australian history, provided a basis through which to investigate the similarities and differences of reporting in the Australian newspapers. This thesis analysed the Afghanistan War coverage from 2008 to 2013 in the Australian, the Age, Herald Sun and the West Australian. The content analysis and interviews with News Corporation, Fairfax and Seven West Media journalists explored the impact of embedded journalism. This thesis concluded that the privileging of Western government-military viewpoints — in the absence of counter-hegemonic voices — conditioned the Australian story of the war that was conservative and flawed.