DERELICT PROVINCE: COVERAGE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL ISSUES OF BALUCHISTAN IN SELECTED PAKISTANI NEWSPAPERS

Abstract

Baluchistan is the largest but at the same time neglected and under-developed province of Pakistan. The aim of the present research was to study the print media coverage of different issues prevailing in Baluchistan including missing persons, terrorism, military operations, human rights violation, government of Pakistan and foreign interference. It also explored newspapers’ reporting for analyzing media framing and news bias towards the province. In this paper the researcher also discussed whether and to what extent print media was biased during the whole coverage. The different issues and news bias was studied in the light of framing concept of agenda setting theory. The study was quantitative in nature, involving content analysis to examine the portrayal of Baluchistan by Pakistani English newspapers i.e. Dawn and The News during January to March 2012. The study focused on the foreign policies of Pakistan regarding the province as the covered in selected newspapers. It also contributed by adding into knowledge about the application of news bias and neutrality of the Pakistani press allowing audience to make an informed choice.