Framing of Pakistan General Elections 2018 in US Press (New York Times and Washington Post)

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which Pakistan general elections 2018 were covered in US Press, specifically in New York Times and Washington Post and the implications of such importance on the overall coverage. The author analyzes the content of newspaper stories from the United States written before and after the month, following the July 2018, general elections in Pakistan. There were frames and topics that were the defined by the researcher to analyze that how the US press covered the general elections of Pakistan. The study analyzed the content of 391 news stories from the two leading newspapers i.e. New York Times and Washington Post. The purpose of this study to analyze that how Pakistan General Elections 2018 were framed in the US Press. Census approach was used to collect the data. Content of US press i.e. NY Times and Washington Post will be analysed. Analysis of news items was conducted in order to study the effects of news frames. Time period of the newspaper were two months i.e. from June 25, 2018 to August 25, 2018. The study found that issues related to politics and military got more coverage as compared to other topics defined by the author in the selected press. As compared to Washington Post, NY Times gave more number of stories on military and terrorism and portrayed Pakistan Military as dominant in the political structure of Pakistan and have a hold over major institution in the country. Very few studies, however, have analyzed international press coverage of what one could be the progressive activities in Pakistan (such as national elections). This study could add a great deal to the understanding of how issues related to Pakistan are presented in the selected press.