Conflict and violence have long held a prominent place in media circulation. Newspaper publishers and politicians William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer (1998) are often credited with popularising the phrase “if it bleeds, it leads,” reflecting their use of sensational and graphic reporting to dramatise the Spanish–American War (1898). The technological and logistical limitations of 1890s media circulation enabled Hearst and Pulitzer to craft a narrative centred on the atrocities allegedly committed by Spanish forces in Cuba. Widely regarded as the first “media war,” this conflict demonstrated the power of imagery and sensationalism to engage audiences and provoke a public demand for U.S. intervention.
Even prior to the development of modern media, conflict narratives were depicted through other forms of representation. Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade (1854), for example, offered readers a stirring narrative of heroic tragedy, set against the backdrop of a disastrous military manoeuvre during the Crimean War.
Narratives are fundamental to how we understand images. An image; or even a verbal description of conflict; on its own merely documents an event. When contextualised, however, it acquires meaning through the narrative that surrounds it. This narrative shapes interpretation, influencing how audiences perceive and emotionally respond to what they see. In media circulation, images and narratives are inseparable: every photograph, headline, or caption serves to guide understanding and evoke reaction.
Over the past century, the mechanisms of media circulation have changed dramatically. What was once confined to newspapers evolved into televised broadcasts and, in the twenty-first century, expanded into digital and social media platforms, with each shift transforming how images of conflict are shared, interpreted, and experienced.
Thus, this research seeks to explore the question: How have shifts from traditional to digital media circulation changed how users engage with and react to narratives surrounding images of conflict and violence?
This issue carries important implications for both designers and users. For designers, it is essential to consider how the platforms they create; whether traditional or digital; shape the circulation of media and enable the formation of narratives around images, as these narratives can profoundly influence user perception and behaviour. Likewise, users must recognise how the media they engage with on these platforms can be framed or manipulated to elicit specific emotional or cognitive responses, highlighting the need for critical awareness in media consumption.
This research will begin by examining a range of historical and contemporary conflicts, analysing how images were circulated through the media platforms of their respective periods and how these processes contributed to the formation of image-based narratives. Once this spectrum of conflicts has been explored, the findings will be compared and contrasted to generate insights that address the central research question.