Construction of Taliban Image in Pakistan: Discourse Analysis of Editorials of Dawn and the News
China Media Research, 7(2), 2011, Malik & Iqbal, Construction of Taliban Image in Pakistan
Construction of Taliban Image in Pakistan:
Discourse Analysis of Editorials of Dawn and The News
Shaista Malik, Journalists for Democracy and Human Rights
Zafar Iqbal, International Islamic University
Abstract: The aim of this research study is to investigate as to how the image of Taliban is being constructed in the print media discourses. In the last couple of years, media in Pakistan widely covered the involvement of Taliban, fanning extremism in Pakistan, which, at present, forms a frame of reference in national context. The media coverage shows that Taliban mostly carry negative images. They might have some positive gestures as well, but the overall image is clearly negative. Most of the editorials in leading newspapers see Taliban as a precursor to growing extremism in the country. This paper discusses the difference of image building between two leading English language newspapers - The News and Dawn. The study describes the coverage pattern of the two distinct newspapers on Taliban and extremism. Editorials of these two Pakistani newspapers published from February 1, 2009 to March
31, 2009 were selected to study media construction of the image of Taliban in Pakistan. The rationales behind selecting these newspapers are: (1) both the English newspapers have a high circulation (2) both have distinct editorial policies. The paper concludes that media constructs a negative image of Taliban in the editorial discourses.
The paper examines as how the media constructs the image of Taliban and to what extent this portrayal forms derogatory and stereotypical frames of them. Concretely, this study focuses on the frame that has been applied by both the newspapers Dawn and The News while writing editorials on Taliban. These frames identify differences and similarities between the coverage of the two newspapers. The paper does speak of the stylistic features in
Construction of Taliban Image in Pakistan:
Discourse Analysis of Editorials of Dawn and The News
Shaista Malik, Journalists for Democracy and Human Rights
Zafar Iqbal, International Islamic University
Abstract: The aim of this research study is to investigate as to how the image of Taliban is being constructed in the print media discourses. In the last couple of years, media in Pakistan widely covered the involvement of Taliban, fanning extremism in Pakistan, which, at present, forms a frame of reference in national context. The media coverage shows that Taliban mostly carry negative images. They might have some positive gestures as well, but the overall image is clearly negative. Most of the editorials in leading newspapers see Taliban as a precursor to growing extremism in the country. This paper discusses the difference of image building between two leading English language newspapers - The News and Dawn. The study describes the coverage pattern of the two distinct newspapers on Taliban and extremism. Editorials of these two Pakistani newspapers published from February 1, 2009 to March
31, 2009 were selected to study media construction of the image of Taliban in Pakistan. The rationales behind selecting these newspapers are: (1) both the English newspapers have a high circulation (2) both have distinct editorial policies. The paper concludes that media constructs a negative image of Taliban in the editorial discourses.
The paper examines as how the media constructs the image of Taliban and to what extent this portrayal forms derogatory and stereotypical frames of them. Concretely, this study focuses on the frame that has been applied by both the newspapers Dawn and The News while writing editorials on Taliban. These frames identify differences and similarities between the coverage of the two newspapers. The paper does speak of the stylistic features in
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