International Journal of Humanities and Social Science

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science

Vol. 2 No. 17; September 2012

Agenda setting and Framing of Elections during Musharraf Period in Pakistani Print Media (1999-2008)
Naveed Iqbal Chaudhry Lecturer Institute of Communication Studies University of the Punjab Lahore-Pakistan Amna Ashraf Lecturer Media studies Dept 93-Kinnaird College Lahore-Pakistan Abstract
This paper presents a content analysis of editorials published by the elite English press of Pakistan during Pervaiz Musharraf’s regime (1999-2008). It examines the trends of editorial agenda, policies of the selected press and diversity of issues regarding dictator led elections in Pakistan. The study considers the postulates of ‘agenda setting’ and ‘framing’ to examine the editorial coverage of elections by three English dailies. The time against each election under study is divided into ‘pre-poll’, ‘polling’ and ‘post-poll’ periods. The analysis deals with six categories of the contents. It explores that what are the major issues and events regarding elections that got attention of the press. How media gives priorities to cover electoral issues. It further investigates the consistency of editorial policy and the watchdog role playing by the selected press through their editorials. It unpacks the frames being used in the editorials to picture a certain image regarding these electoral issues.

Key Words: Elections, Pakistani print media, Pervaiz Musharraf, Framing, Agenda setting. 1. Introduction
Studying elections through analyzing media coverage, regarding diverse range of electoral issues, is one of the popular and fascinating domains of research in the field of political communication. Elections are considered central to the process of democratization and involve a larger number of people in a country than any other social activity. Media ought to be responsible in connecting the election commission, contestants and electorates regarding the issues of the electoral process. The

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