NEWSPAPER REPORTING OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS DURING THE GENERAL ELECTIONS OF PAKISTAN 2018

Abstract

This research study aims to investigate the reporting patterns of newspapers during the general elections of Pakistan 2018 in the light of agenda setting and framing theory that enlightens the coverage of political parties of Pakistan in the two leading English newspapers Daily Dawn and The Nation. Content analysis of Opinion pages (of 1 month) was conducted to measure the frequency, placement and the tone of the news coverage of political parties. The result indicates that The Nation covered more items on its editorial page than the Daily Dawn. It is found that both the newspapers have given more salience to PMLN as compared to any other political party. The results also show that other political parties like MMA, BNP, ANP and BAP were under representation in both the newspapers. Also, most of the coverage of these newspapers re PMLN portrays the pro approach. The study also draws attention to the fact that there seems no equality in the coverage of the political parties. On the other hand, the Dawn has given space to public voice via letters to editors whereas the Nation focused on their editorials.