Exploring Minority Representation in Pakistani Newspaper Editorials through Corpus Approaches

Abstract

The underrepresentation of minorities remains a pressing concern, particularly in light of its social, economic, and political implications, warranting scholarly examination. Minorities face discrimination despite the constitutional rights in Pakistan. As a significant source of information, print media has been shaping narratives and influencing societal mindset in this regard. This study aims to explore the representation of minorities in the editorials of two esteemed English newspapers in Pakistan, Daily Dawn and The News. The data was collected through the LexisNexis database. Critical Discourse Analysis Theory, called Bourdieu’s Theory of Language and Power, has been used as a theoretical framework, and a corpus-based approach has been used as an analytical framework. A targeted corpus containing 78 editorials – 33 from The News and 45 from Daily Dawn was selected. High dispersion keywords like minorities from The News and minority from Daily Dawn, along with their frequent collocations, were centralised for analysis. Five persistent themes were used for analysis, including power and hegemonic discourse, marginalisation of minority women, religious discrimination and forced conversions, lack of political and civic representation, and delayed justice and institutional silence. The research finds that minorities are framed within the discourse of vulnerability and crisis through their recurrent connection with systematic marginalisation, cases of blasphemy and persecution. Both newspapers strengthen dominant discourses through a critical or sympathetic tone, highlighting the social stratification. Nonetheless, heterogeneity was observed in Daily Dawn and The News’ discourses. Daily Dawn inclined towards more gendered marginalisation and legal reform; contrarily, The News drew attention to broader problems like institutional neglect and civic marginalisation. The distinctions highlight how narratives are constructed, considering public readership and institutional dominance. The research concludes that mainstream English newspaper editorials reveal and reproduce the inherent inequalities. Implications suggest the need for reformation in editorials through minority inclusivity, training for journalists and reporters, and policy implementation at the state level. Researchers can widen the scope of the study by analysing minority representation in Urdu newspapers.