Pak-China Relations: A Comparative Study of American, Indian, Chinese and Pakistani Press

Abstract

This research has been conducted to examine the coverage and slant of the China Pakistan bilateral relationship in the editorial pages (including editorials and columns) of four prominent newspapers (The New York Times, Times of India, Global Times, and Daily Dawn) of the world. It offers a comparison of media coverage and portrayal of Pak-China relations from January 2015 to December 2019. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis methods were applied to examine the selected categories of Sino-Pak ties. After thoroughly reading the selected newspaper‘s editorial pages, six main categories of Topics and frames were developed on which Pak-China relations were discussed in 5 years. These Frames were: Pak-China military and Strategic Support, Internal conflicts, China Pakistan Economic Corridor, Regional Conflicts, United Nations and Risk factors. Within these main categories of topics and frames, further subcategories were also developed to understand the understudy issues better. Taking into account, the frequency and severity of reporting and balanced criticism the portrayal was analyzed in three dimensions, including positive, negative, and neutral. The theoretical bases of the thesis are based on hypotheses taken from the theory of framing. The study concluded that the Pakistani press gave more coverage to the stories related to Sino-Pak relations than other selected newspapers. Moreover, the Pakistani and Chinese press portrayed positive, while the Indian and American press covered it negatively. The study contributes to understanding the perception of the international media about regional affairs. Moreover this research will help in understanding the media coverage of the relations of the countries, how the media presents the relations of friendly and hostile countries to the public of their country and what role the media can play for peaceful coexistence. Keywords: Portrayal, Media Framing, Pakistan-China Relations, Content Analysis, The New York Times, Times of India, Global Times, Daily Dawn.