Exploring the Warfare Targets in Interstate Disinformation Warfare against Pakistan

Abstract

This study examines the targets aimed by interstate disinformation warfare waged by adversary states against Pakistan. The warfare mongers want to shape Pakistani public opinion and international perception to affect government policy in their favor by hitting these targets through media assaults. Although this study majorly involved inductive reasoning, like most qualitative studies, it partly has a validating character. This research comprised a sample of 15 interviewees with diverse backgrounds, including media academicians, journalists, and defense analysts. A purposive sampling method was adopted to recruit participants identified through snowballing. The participants were recruited through the purposive snowballing method. In-depth phenomenological interviewing was employed to collect data per this study's ontological stance and epistemological beliefs. Employing the Thematic Analysis Method, twenty codes were identified from the interview data. These codes were segregated into six nodes and child nodes each based on similarity. The nodes were later clubbed into a theme. Once the data had been arranged hierarchically in Codes, Nodes, and Themes, it was fed into NVivo version 12, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software, to compile it graphically and assign visual presentations. All participants viewed affirmatively in line with the Nodes and Child Nodes, and no differing or mitigating remark was received from the participants. So, it is confidently concluded that the research objective has been fully achieved.