Framing of Pak-Afghan Border Management issue in Pakistan, Afghanistan and us Press

Abstract

This thesis explores how the Pak Afghan border management issue was framed by the leading national and international newspapers of the world. Newspapers from three countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the United States of America, were under study. Two leading newspapers from each country were selected for content analysis. From Pakistan leading English dailies Dawn and The News, from Afghanistan, two newspapers Afghanistan Times and Outlook Afghanistan and from United States of America Washington Post and the New York Times, were under study. So, six newspapers, two each from the above-mentioned countries from 1st June 2016 to 30th June 2017, were studied. These particular papers were selected for study because of their strong professional standing. Another reason to select these papers for research was that the above-mentioned newspapers belong to the media groups having different schools of thought, different countries, and different cultural and professional backgrounds. It was assumed that the newspapers would have differently been framing Pakistan while giving coverage to the issues pertaining to the Pak Afghan border management. The three hypotheses of the study were, “Pakistani media will frame stance taken by Pakistan as justified/ friendly while providing coverage to the issue of Pak-Afghan border management’, “Afghani media will use frames of foe to steps taken by Pakistan while giving coverage to the issue of Pak-Afghan border management,” “American media will use frames to remain neutral to steps taken by Pakistan while giving coverage to the issue of Pak-Afghan border management.” Three research questions of the thesis were that “To what extent coverage was provided to the issue of “Framing of Pak-Afghan Border Management Issue in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and US Press” by the sample newspapers, i.e., The News Rawalpindi & The Dawn Islamabad, Framing of Pak-Afghan Border Management Issue in Pakistan, Afghanistan and US Press viii Afghanistan Times & Daily Outlook Afghanistan and American papers Washington Post and New York Times. “What are the frames frequently mentioned related to the issue of “Framing of Pak-Afghan Border Management Issue in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and US Press” by the sample newspapers, and “what are the slants about the issue of “Framing of Pak-Afghan Border Management Issue in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and US Press” by the sample newspapers.” Implications for framing theory and the news coverage of the Pak Afghan border management issue was also an indicator of the post-9/11 war on terrorism, endangering the security situation of South Asia, specifically Pakistan and Afghanistan.