The northeastern state of Assam in India has witnessed long years of armed
conflict waged by the ULFA and other militant outfits against the Indian state, and
intermittent identity struggles by different ethnic groups and communities
demanding greater autonomy and constitutionally guaranteed privileges. The 2000s
political landscape of Assam saw several spectacular incidents of violence, of a
scale and magnitude that attracted not only national, but also global media
attention. This study examines the press coverage of three such spectacular conflictinduced violent events by four frontline English dailies, in order to draw definitive inferences about how the national and the regional press interpreted, constructed
and presented these violent incidents in the country’s periphery, to their readers.
The findings clearly establish the ways in which the press constructs issues from
the nation’s margins in the way they define events, actors, causes and effects of
violent political conflicts.