The Editorial Treatment of Pakistani Elite Press on Panama Leaks Issue: A Study of Dawn and The Nation

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the Editorial treatment of the elite English press “Dawn and The Nation” on the Panama issue. The focus of this study is to find out the framing of PTI and PML (N) with reference to the Panama leaks issue by Dawn and The Nation. The research follows a qualitative research design content analysis strategy. A purposive sampling strategy was adopted. Editorials of both newspapers on Panama issue from 1^st November 2016 to 20^th December 2016 were selected. The researcher designed a coding sheet by selecting two frames for PTI and three for PML (N). The theoretical framework for this research was based on framing theory. The data was analyzed through an in-depth study of editorials. The findings of the study showed that Dawn newspaper gave less space to the Panama issue comparatively to The Nation on the editorial page but the slant was more favorable towards PTI while The Nation gave it more space on the editorial page but no favorable slant to PTI or PML (N). Findings imply that the Pakistani elite press has different portrayals of issues. Moreover, the press agenda in Pakistan is diverse on political issues, which is a healthy indicator of the plural and democratic media system in Pakistan.