Uzair Sadiq Bilal

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PRINT MEDIA: PUNJAB PROTECTION OF WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE ACT 2016 (“ACT”) by Uzair Sadiq Bilal CE thesis is submitted to the Department of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Bachelors of Social Sciences Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi, Pakistan 4th May 2017 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Tiago Ferreira Lopes, my guru and supervisor for helping me with his esteemed guidance and making it possible for me to complete my thesis. He is a great human being who supported me in every possible way. He had been appreciative and motivated me throughout the thesis even if I did careless mistakes, and provided me with the best possible advice I could ever get. I would like to pay my regards to my other professors who had been a part of my four years in university. These include, Dr. Faiza Mushtaq, Dr. Tiago Lopes, Dr. Naveen Minai, and many other amazing professors who had been a part of my life. The idea of the thesis would not have been possible without the help of my mentor at my research internship, Mr. Muhammad Jibran Nasir. Lastly, I want to dedicate my thesis to my father, mother, sisters and my three-month-old beautiful princess niece, Rumaisa Iqbal. Thank you everyone. . ABSTRACT DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PRINT MEDIA: PUNJAB PROTECTION OF WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE ACT 2016 (“ACT”) by Uzair Sadiq Bilal Institute of Business Administration, 2017 Dr. Tiago Ferreira Lopes, Supervisor The research collected, catalogued and critically analyzed newspapers that covered the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016 (“Act”) or Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 for the months of February and March. For this purpose, six newspapers in two different languages were selected i.e. English and Urdu. A frame analysis with content analysis and an overarching theory of Critical Discourse Analysis is used to answer (1) How many newspaper articles (columns and editorials) and news reports portray a contentious act in against, favourable or in neutral way? (2) What are the trigger words and phrases used in these articles? The main purpose of this study was to provide potential answers to the hypothesis. This study recognized media’s use of framing in order to portray a contentious act. The results showed the use of words and phrases framed by the selected newspapers when portraying the news in a particular manner, i.e. favour, against, neutral. The analysis also revealed the number of males and female members who wrote on the act as well. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION6 CHAPTER 111 1.1HISTORY OF NEWSPAPERS IN PAKISTAN11 1.2CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (CDA)12 1.3FRAMING14 1.3.1Concept of Framing.15 1.3.2Framing Analysis.17 CHAPTER 219 2.0 The Urdu-English Divide19 2.1Research Plan20 2.2Newspaper Articles (Columns and Editorials):20 2.3Newspaper Reports23 2.4Study24 2.5Resources of the Study24 2.6Sample Size25 2.7Research Duration25 2.8Rationale for the selection of the Newspapers25 2.9Content Analysis27 2.10Quantitative Analysis27 CHAPTER 328 3.1ANALYSIS28 3.2ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS28 3.2.1NEWSPAPER ARTICLES (Columns and Editorials)28 3.2.1.1 Dawn29 3.2.1.3 Express Tribune29 3.2.1.2 The Nation30 3.2.1.4Summary of The Three Selected English Newspapers Articles (Columns and Editorials)31 3.2.2NEWS REPORTS32 3.2.2.1 Dawn32 3.2.2.2 Express Tribune33 3.2.2.3 The Nation34 3.2.2.4 Summary of The Three Selected English News Reports35 3.3 URDU NEWSPAPERS36 3.3.1 NEWSPAPER ARTICLES (Columns and Editorials)36 3.3.1.1 Daily Express36 3.3.1.2 Daily Jang37 3.3.1.2 Daily Ummat39 3.3.1.4 Summary of The Three Selected Urdu News Articles (Columns and Editorials)41 3.3.2NEWS REPORTS42 3.3.2.1 Daily Express42 3.3.2.2 Daily Jang43 3.3.2.3 Daily Ummat44 3.3.2.4 Summary of The Three Selected Urdu Newspaper Reports46 3.4Comparison Between English And Urdu News Papers47 3.4.1 Comparison of News Articles (Columns and Editorials) of the selected English and Urdu Newspapers47 3.4.2 Comparison of News reports of the selected English and Urdu Newspapers47 CONCLUSION49 Limitations50 Implications of the Study50 Future Research50 BIBLIOGRAPHY51 LIST OF FIGURES Fig a; Summary of English news articles which are in favour, against and neutral fashion. Fig b; Percentage of males, females and editorials Fig c: English News reports which were written in favour, against, and neutral fashion. Fig d: Urdu Newspaper articles which were written in favour, against, and neutral fashion Fig e: representation of gender participation in Urdu newspaper articles Fig f; representation of Urdu newspaper reports which framed the news in favour, against and in neutral fashion. INTRODUCTION In February 2016, Punjab assembly of Pakistan passed an act in the provincial assembly with the name of Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016 (“Act”). The act was one of the most controversial and highly debated topic in Media which seemed to have polarized public opinion on this issue. The Media is one of the primary source of information in Pakistan which helps to develop public opinion and perception of the audience on various incidents. Print media in Pakistan is one of the greatest source of information for the people and it has been playing its part for a very long time since the creation of Pakistan in1947. Newspapers in Pakistan are read by the majority population of the country and it is one of the major source of news information for the people. The newspapers disseminate and spreads the news in the cheapest possible way for the people. The news which is reached to the common man tries to influence opinions of the people by using wide range of reports, articles, blogs etc. As Pakistan, has been and is traditionally a patriarchal society, the same values are often confused with Islam and presented as religious orders. Certain columnists, analysts, and reporters within the media also view topics in Pakistan through the same lens. It frames an argument and plays an important role in how social and political issues are presented in the national debate. (Fryberg et al., 2016). Thus, as soon as the act was passed in the assembly, discussions and debates started to happen all over the media. Whether it be print or electronic media, there was not one day when media did not report the event. The major coverage of the event lasted for about two months and faded away gradually. This is seen in most of the events, i.e. whenever an event is new it is talked and is in the lime light, but gradually fades away. In the coverage of such type of events it is necessary for the media to follow a certain ethical framework, which is to present the news in the most objective and neutral manner as possible. Media ethics is the study of principles that guides the journalists to responsibly behave amongst each other and within the society (Ward, 2011). It is concerned with freedom and independence but with the element of responsibility and accountability included in it. But looking at some media agencies and their style of news coverage and the articles published, it has resulted in a lot unethical behavior. To be objective is one of the main objective of the media. Hackett (1984) acknowledges that the ideal of objectivity suggests that facts can be separated from opinion or value judgments and that journalists can stand apart from the real-world events whose truth or meaning they transfer to the news audience by means of neutral language and competent reporting techniques. Media are responsible for providing timely, fair, and balanced news and information of world events, which allow the public to make well-informed and educated decisions (Brunken, 2006). Though, “all the reporters in the world working all the hours of the day could not witness all the happenings in the world” (Lippmann, 1922: 183). After the news content is selected, the media include, exclude and elaborate that content according to their agenda (Hester & Gibson, 2003). Thus, what the media does is use different techniques to elaborate on an event like Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. These techniques and methods includes framing, critical discourse analysis and sometime content analysis also. For this study, Critical Discourse Analysis is used as an overarching umbrella under which the concept of framing is the main element of discussion. The thesis has further used the frame analysis to know about the portrayal of the act in the newspaper articles (columns and editorials) and news reports. It looks at the number of favourable, negative and neutral pieces, and looks at the words and phrases which are used in framing the act in a particular way. The critical discourse analysis as described by Fairclough (1995) looks at language as the social practice and is concerned with analyzing and studying the written and spoken text to exhibit the discursive sources of power, inequality, and bias (Van Dijk, 1998a). It inspects how these discursive sources are kept up and replicated inside social, political and historical contexts. The framing theory explains the media’s influence on society. Tettah and King (2011: 505) described that the framing theory “proposes on how an idea is presented (framed) in the media, and how people think about that issue”. According to Chyi and McCombs (2004: 22), “the news media often reframe the event by emphasizing different attributes of the event, consciously or unconsciously, in order to keep the story alive and fresh”. This is mostly the case with many media outlets in Pakistan as well which tries to present the public with a totally different picture of the actual news or event that occurred. This study has taken six newspapers from two different languages i.e. English and Urdu. Among these six newspapers, three newspapers are in English Language, whereas, the remaining three are from Urdu. The period of research is from 25th February 2016 to 31st March 2016. The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter starts with discussing the history of the newspapers. It then moves further to look at what Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is and how is it relevant to the study. Then, the chapter moves further into the discussion on Framing. Framing is understood by looking at what framing is and what is its concept, then a discussion of Framing analysis is carried out. The second chapter starts with discussing the divide between the Urdu and English in the context of sub-continent. It mentions about how the gap between the two languages have occurred throughout the history of the region and the it further develops on to look at the methodology of the paper which includes the categories which are taken into consideration when studying the newspapers. It also mentions about the The last chapter consists of the separate analysis of the all the six selected newspapers from the two languages, i.e. English and Urdu. It includes the newspaper articles (columns and editorials) and as well as the newspaper reports. A summary of the analysis is also given with a graphical representation and in the end a comparative analysis is done between the newspapers of the two languages. CHAPTER 1 The chapter is divided into three sections. The first section introduces the history of newspapers and how it developed in the Pakistani context. It will look at how the print media evolved through the time and had reached to a point where it has become independent and self-determined. The next section will look at how critical discourse analysis plays a part in print media. authors who played their part in it will be discussed and lastly in the last part it will be looking at Framing as the major part of the critical discourse analysis and will explain what Framing theory in relation to how different authors played their part in understanding the theory. 1.1HISTORY OF NEWSPAPERS IN PAKISTAN Akhter (2000) explains that the emergence of newspapers in the sub-continent started with the aim of focusing their attention towards nationalism before 1947. The focus of the print media at that time was by and large focused on the arguments which promoted towards independence from the British1. After independence in 1947, the governments of both India and Pakistan used the media as a tool to promote their own objectives (Window on Pakistani Media, n.d). Since the two new states were formed, “both the states developed their own form of nationalistic narrative, and this reflected in the newspapers” as well (Rahman, 1996). Shoeb (2008) explains that if any newspaper was reluctant in publishing the state narrative, pressure was put to comply with the state, otherwise their funding would be stopped, and if they resist it would lead to the shutting down of the press. Cowasjee (1999) acknowledges that the newspapers during the 1970s and 1980s never showed unity when one newspaper was under attack for voicing their opinion. He asserts that even in the 1990s during the government of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Shareef, the then prime ministers of the country under the democratic rule, the newspapers still did not raise their voice if anyone of their counterparts were in any sort of danger. Cowasjee’s view was supported by Shakil Rai Akhter and in his analysis of newspapers from 1970 to 1990 concluded that the economic dependence on the government, fear of legal action, and harassment forced journalists to write material that was heavily skewed in favor of the ruling elite (Akhtar, 2000: 94). Akhtar’s (2000) research showed that the newspapers framed the news in a biased manner especially in the elections of 1971, when the newspapers of west Pakistan created headlines which showed their inclinations toward Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) the winner at that time. Zamir Niazi (1994), journalist by profession, has further explicated on the history of print media in Pakistan and tell how press in Pakistan had gone through different levels of censorships at different times. During the reign of the dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq, criticizing or writing anything against Zia and his rule was heavily edited and the piece was cut out from the newspaper (Niazi, 1994: 87). Niazi (1994: 54) mentions that the censorship got categorized into three forms during this period, pre-censorship, censorship, and self-censorship. The first two forms resulted in either banning or editing of the news before it being published2. This resulted in the third form of censorship, in which they act intentionally rebelled against the authorities by leaving a blank space when they were dictated3. This was done to show the ones in power that they were unjustly interfering in their processes of news4. Hence, till now the news has mostly relied on self-censorship (Niazi, 1994), but the level of self-censorship has changed in recent times and now the “media frames bias” (Entman, 2007: 1) and is involved in the “distribution of power” (Entman, 2007: 1). Thus, when looking at the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 we can observe that the media in today’s context plays a vital role in self-censoring and in that process, they deliberately include and ignore many things in the process of making news. 1.2CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (CDA) Critical Discourse Analysis is an overarching form of analysis which is being studied for this research. This part will focus on how different authors have talked about the Critical Discourse Analysis. The late 1970s resulted in the development of Critical Linguistics by a group of linguists and literary theorists at the University of East Anglia (Fowler et. al., 1979; Kress & Hodge, 1979). They (Fowler et. al., 1979; Kress & Hodge, 1979) felt that linguists had been committed to an objective description of language, focusing on exploring such questions as “what”, while ignoring questions as “why” and “how” in language and its use. During that time, Kress (1993) and Fairclough (1989) claimed that the social and historical background of the discourse and the rules of the event should no longer be ignored in the linguistic analysis. Thus, they (Kress, 1993; Fairclough, 1989) called for an inquiry into the relationship between signs, which meant that the social and historical conditions, were found to be completely bound with the speaker or writer’s thought. Gradually, the investigation into the relationship between language and ideology developed into the Critical Discourse Analysis (Qianbo, 2016). The central point of Critical Discourse Analysis has been language and ideology since its emergence (Hodge & Kress, 1988). They (Hodge & Kress, 1988) claim that language is the primary discipline of ideology, whether the members of the society are aware of it when they use the language in their daily lives. Others (Van Dijik, 1986; Fairclough, 1989; Fowler, 1991) express that even the clearly "impartial" news language does not objectively and transparently speak to "facts", but rather are ideological and identified with the values, beliefs and practice of their social contexts in many ways. Critical Discourse Analysis is a field that looks at the language as a social practice (Fairclough, 1995) and is concerned with analyzing and studying the written and spoken text to exhibit the discursive sources of power, inequality, and bias (Van Dijk, 1998a). It inspects how these discursive sources are kept up and replicated inside social, political and historical contexts. Fairclough (1993) defines Critical Discourse Analysis as the one which aims at exploring opaque relationships of causality and determination between (a) discursive practices, events and texts; and (b) wider socio-cultural structures, relations, and processes. It investigates how these practices emerge out of an ideological relation of power and explore how the opacity of these relationships between discourse and society results in securing power and hegemony (Fairclough, 1993:135). Furthermore, Van Dijk (1998) looks at media as the organization which works according to its ideology and assumes the role of controlling the ideological work of family and congregation. In order to inspect that part of news media which plays its part in the proliferation of ethnic biases, Van Dijk fundamentally broke the news that provides details regarding the scope of evacuees, outsiders and minorities and found that press also has a certain mindset which plays its part in spreading its prejudice and that mindset is none but the elites. (Van Dijk, 1988a, 1988b). Wodak (1989, 1995) focused more on the aspects of social practices and problems and moved his attention towards the sexist dialect that prevailed in the news reports an endeavor to make ladies unmistakable in dialect, and along these lines additionally socially in foundations. Fairclough (1995) states that the schedules, on-screen characters, events and institutional plans in news making are by and large one-sided toward the generation of a constrained arrangement of overwhelming world class belief system. Thus, the Critical Discourse Analysis is used as an umbrella under which the researcher’s main purpose is to look at the certain words in phrases which triggers people’s emotions regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. It will now look at how Framing (which is the main approach to look at the study) plays a vital role in this study. 1.3FRAMING According to Bateson (1972), a frame indicates the connection among several associated components in a text. Determining this relationship can reach to a greater conclusion of the issue that is incorporated in the content. Therefore, any communicated information contains two components: to start with, a substance and second, a frame that shows how the message is ought to be deciphered. Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson (1967) add that “such communication on communication helps the receiver to structure and define reality.” The frames utilized in an information can be identified and concentrated through frame analysis. Charlotte Ryan (1991) portrays frame analysis is getting a particular side of a message. Frame analysis is an instrument for organizing data about how individuals see political issues. We can employ frame analysis to hear and understands the pains and worries of a class, a community, or a country, and afterward to form their awareness of an issue. There are two approaches towards Framing.5 The first is the implementation of Framing, which is constantly done when data is put into content6. Writers apply Framing to their words and messages to intentionally control the reader's understanding of that content7. This is a precise and effective approach to impact and influences the audience.8 Media researchers are adopting the strategy on Framing from a different point9. Previously, they attempt to understand that the frame that has been connected to the message by the producer10. Following the findings of certain Framings, researchers can make inferences on what the author wanted to convey to their audience11. Once the goal for a specific method for Framing has been recognized, media researchers can then consider its actual impact on the audience12. Hence, they can choose whether the Framing was effective or not. Frame analysis is an essential strategy which assumes a part in the comprehension of social interconnections and elements and social conduct13. The following section will give a more profound comprehension of Framing and frame analysis to identify the significance of the proposed study for the field of mass media research. 1.3.1Concept of Framing. A group of researchers was driven by James W. Mug in 1990 described a frame as “a central organizing idea for news content that supplies a context and suggests what the issue is using selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration.” (Tankard, Hendrickson, Silberman, Bliss, & Ghanem, 1991) In the physical world, the term frame can be a picture frame or a framework of a building14. Tankard (2001) summarized that frames have different functions. The picture frame according to Tankard (2001), stands for the isolation of some material and taking into account of the other one. The frames in media studies play a similar function. As the color and shape of a picture frame include and removes certain things, similarly the messages are framed in the same way15. A frame of a house is its organizing structure. In the same way frames of communication Act as an organizing structure of an idea or a message. Several elements that play a role in Framing are schemata, frame packages, Framing devices, and reasoning devices (Van Gorp, 2007). It is important to understand these elements since they play a crucial role in comprehending the findings of a frame analysis. Schemata are mentally stored clusters of ideas that guide the individual's processing of information (Fiske & Taylor, 1991). A frame package is a cluster of logically organized devices that function as an identity kit for the frame (Van Gorp, 2006). He explained that frame package consists of the Framing devices and reasoning devices. Van Gorp (2006) explains that Framing devices include the “word choice, metaphors, exemplars, descriptions, arguments, and visual images”, whereas, reasoning devices are “explicit and implicit statements that deal with justifications, causes, and consequences”. Frames are central elements to every culture, despite the fact that their presence is often very subtle16. Gamson (1992) takes note that the procedure of social construction stays invisible. To Reese (2001) frames are organizing principles that are socially shared and persistent over time, that work symbolically to meaningfully structure the social world to him and others, culture depends on frames to work the way it does. Goffman (1981), indicates that individuals are reactive to various Framings relying upon their culture. However, people can be reactive for frames, depending on the persistence of the frame. Entman (1993) refers to this phenomenon as the cultural stock of frames. The journalists, or writers who apply frames with a specific goal to spread a specific message must keep this cultural stock in their mind (Janssen, 2010: 24) This study is taking Framing into account and tries to determine whether Framing in the various publications is measurable. The researcher believes that frames used in the transmission of messages in one language might not be recognized in another language, due to a different mindset of the people. If the frame is not identified by the audience, it is more than likely that the message receiver will not interpret it in the way the sender needed them to. In that case, the sender has failed to convey his message. The researcher believes that different frames are not only perceived differently in different languages but it also depends on the social environment. after the research is being done, the researcher will discuss these assumptions based on the findings. Before going further into the idea of Framing analysis to place it within the aspect of frames, it is important to mention that frames play a part in at least four areas of the communication process, as described by Entman (1993). These locations are communicators, text, receiver, and culture. Communicators apply and make Framing decisions on their own individual beliefs. Finally, Entman (1993) describes culture as empirically verifiable set of frames exhibited in the discourse and thinking of most people in a social grouping. According to this categorization, frame analysis takes place within the fourth location: culture. Some portion of this culture, media research, specifically, tries to comprehend this interrelation to explain different individuals from a similar culture, people in general. 1.3.2Framing Analysis. Framing analysis, in the mass communication research can be found in between discourse analysis and content analysis, usually connecting qualitative and quantitative methods. (Neuendorf, 2002). As indicated by Reese (2007), Framing analysis is more culture-bound than content analysis. Framing analysis serves as a tool to discover how individuals see certain messages (Janssen, 2010: 28)17. This Framing study will be joined with a content and critical discourse analysis due to the strong abstract nature of frames (Janssen, 2010: 28). The Framing analysis has been viewed as a secondary research technique when compared with the agenda-setting and priming by some researchers (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). Studies on agenda-setting and priming reveal that Agenda Setting connects to the idea that there is a strong correlation between the emphasis that mass media place on certain points that are based on e.g. coverage and the value associated with these issues by audiences (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). Whereas, in the field of political communication, priming applies to ‘‘changes in the standards that people use to make political evaluations’’ (Iyengar & Kinder, 1987: 63). Priming happens when news content recommends to news audiences that they ought to practice specific issues as benchmarks for assessing the performance of leaders and governments18. It is often understood as an extension to the Agenda Setting. However, Framing looks at how an issue is characterized in news reports and how audiences are influenced by it (DA Scheufele, ‎2007: 3). Thus, the researcher decided to use his study in the context of Framing study. The researcher expects to be able to pull more application to Framing. Framing is a concept of high complexity and thus incorporates many aspects of communication and the shaping of culture, some of which are not at all and some are only slightly touched by priming and agenda-setting (Van Gorp, 2007). Van Gorp (2006) brings up two primary distinctions between Framing and priming. The first is constructionism and the distinction of issues and frames in Framing analysis. Ryan (1991), defines constructionism by the way in which Framing integrates many different aspects of the communication process which explains that it is not restricted media content or just media effects. The second main difference described by Van Gorp (2007) is, that while agenda-setting and priming are for the most part concerned with the covered issues themselves, Framing allows the communicator to approach one issue from multiple angles. At the same time, one frame can be the corresponding for various issues. The Framing analysis is more complicated form of communication research (Ryan, 1991). However, it leads to a broad cultural understanding (Janssen, 2010). The researcher has decided that a Framing study is a useful approach to understanding the Women Protection Act of Punjab of 2016. CHAPTER 2 2.0 The Urdu-English Divide As the history of newspapers in Pakistan was discussed in the previous chapter, we now move forward to discuss an important issue which relates to this study. Since, the study is doing the Discourse Analysis of Print Media in Pakistan and for that English and Urdu newspapers are selected. One of the purpose of selecting the newspapers from the two different languages i.e. English and Urdu is that the two newspapers in Pakistan have a different readership. And when we discuss the Act considering the different readership, we have to keep in mind the divide that is present between the two newspapers. Urdu and English are the two official languages of Pakistan. Although, “less than 8% of the people speak Urdu and English is spoken by a lesser number” (Shoeb, 2008: 15). Both are not native to the country. History and politics have permeated and imbued both English and Urdu languages with power that is not proportional to the linguistic map of Pakistan (Shoeb, 2008: 15). Before the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, Ahmed (1998) acknowledges that the political groups and parties supporting the Pakistan movement capitalized Urdu as an emotive icon to rally Muslim nationalistic image for a separate state. After, partition of India in 1947 which resulted in Pakistan’s creation, numerous elements of the society manipulated the use of Urdu in order to achieve and gain political benefits (Shoeb, 2008: 16). English spread in the sub-continent as soon as the British colonization prevailed19. It was the lingua franca of those Indians who desire for an upward social mobility. Even after the decolonization of India, the language is remained prevalent in Pakistan and independent India, and it is the official language of both countries. In the current socio-economic context of Pakistan, both English and Urdu plays a major role in the military, civil bureaucracy, judiciary, some of the media and the industrialist class (Shoeb, 2008: 4). The researcher believes that there is a divide to be studied here that develops across the linguistic barrier in the media. The news readers of the two possess different intellectual capacities of readership, and thus, the newspaper carefully frames the content in these newspapers so that they have their commercial, ideological and monetary benefits. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the element of censorship affected the freedom of the newspapers a lot previously and when they moved towards self-censorship, the news was censored according to newspaper’s level of freedom (Akhter, 2000). The newspapers in two different languages follow different set of ideologies and caters to different set of audiences. This research attempts to know how the newspapers in English and Urdu tends to cater to their audience and how they portray the news in their newspapers. Further, it will look at whether the newspapers are more open minded about the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 or are they against the act. It will look at whether there is a divide which occur between the two languages and how they portray that event in their respective newspapers. 2.1 Research Plan The aim of this research is to collect, catalogue and critically analyze print media that covered the Women’s Protection Act 2016 in the months of February and March. The months of February and March are taken because this is the period which is nearest to the passing of the Act. Media texts in this category includes national Urdu and English newspapers, that addressed the contentious Act. The research will try to answer the following questions (1) How many newspaper articles (columns and editorials) and news reports portray a contentious act in negative, positive or neutral manner? (2) What are the trigger words and phrases used in these articles? The main purpose of this study is to provide potential answers to the hypothesis above-mentioned The newspapers which are selected in this manner are three English and three Urdu newspapers. Dawn, Nation, and Express Tribune, are part of The National English newspapers that are widely distributed in the country. While, the Urdu counter parts of the newspapers are Daily Jang, Daily Express, and Daily Ummat. All the newspapers included in this study have national circulation with huge numbers being regularly printed and distributed across the country. They have been playing a vital role in shaping public’s opinion and beliefs. For this purpose, the data has been assembled into categories as mentioned below. 2.2 Newspaper Articles (Columns and Editorials): Newspaper articles will be analyzed separately due to the specificity of their content and nature. The news reports are going to be analyzed using the following categories: 1.Link to the article 2.Name of Newspaper 3.Date Published 4.Name of Author 5.Gender of Author 6.Political Affiliation 7.Profession of Author 8.Title of Article 9.Favorable Image 10.Negative Image 11.Neutral Image 12.Reference to the Constitution 13.Misinterpretation of Law 14.Misrepresentation of facts 15.Exclusion of Relevant facts and Information 16.Islamic Jurisprudence Cited 17.Religious/Cultural traditions Referenced 18.Trigger Words 19.Summary The above-mentioned categories are described in detail below: 1.Link to the article: Refers to the hyperlink that attests the authenticity of the article. 2.Name of Newspaper: This category will mention the name of the newspaper in which the articles appeared. 3.Date of Publication: This category mentions the date on which this article is published. 4.Name of Author: The analysis notes the repetition of certain authors, if any, in each newspaper to record diversity of opinions. 5.Gender of Author: The research records the representation of women in print media. 6.Political Affiliation: The analysis considers any proclaimed political affiliations or inclinations that may have informed some form of a bias in the arguments employed by the author. 7.Profession of Author: The qualifications and fields of expertise of the author shape the credibility of the article itself. The analysis of how well the topic is covered by the newspaper includes its choice of qualified column writers to discuss the issue. 8.Title of Article: This category is to analyze the neutrality or bias in language, communicated to the masses vis-à-vis the topic. This is very much important as many people only looks at the titles of the news articles and forms out their opinions. This is seen to be very carefully selected by the news agencies. 9.Favorable Image: Whether the article written is in favor of the Act 10.Negative Image: To know whether the article written is against the Act. 11.Neutral Image: To tell whether the article is neither in favor nor against the Act 12.Reference to the constitution: To record whether if any part of the constitution is cited, and if so, specify which part and why. 13.Misinterpretation of Law; elaborate: To evaluate whether the law is accurately referred to, or misread to manipulate the argument in a certain direction. 14.Misrepresentation of Facts: This category is made to note if any facts are misquoted or falsified, and inaptly employed to draw arguments or comparisons. 15.Exclusion of Relevant Facts and Information: In light of the Actual Act and verified facts, quality of discourse will be analyzed in terms of relevant information being ignored or dismissed to suit a certain argument. 16.Islamic Jurisprudence Cited: If an author refers to Islamic law, accuracy, context and relevance with respect to the topic will be noted and elaborated upon. 17.Religious/Cultural traditions Referenced: Often, religion and culture are conflated together to generate a certain narrative that fits the conventions of society. This category defines and analyzes how language and arguments are applied to reinforce and perpetuate set understandings of culture and religion, and how they’re often misconstrued. 18.Trigger Words: This column ties in with the category that focuses on accentuating the use and repetition of certain type of language, culturally and politically loaded terms, that subtly or blatantly incite a reaction from the readers, and impacts a certain way of thinking. This is carefully looked upon and significance is given to the words which triggers a certain set of ideology and propaganda. 19.Summary: This category gives summarized version of what is written in the article and will try to collect the above information into sentences. 2.3 Newspaper Reports Newspaper reports will be analyzed separately due to the specificity of their content and nature. The news reports are going to be analyzed using the following categories: 1.Link to the Report 2.Name of Newspaper 3.Date Published 4.Title of Report 5.Favorable Image 6.Negative Image 7.Neutral Image 8.Trigger Words 9.Summary The above-mentioned categories are described below: 1.Link to the report: This category gives the link to the report in order to know give the authenticity that the article exists. 2.Name of newspaper: This category will mention the name of the newspaper in which the reports appeared. 3.Date of Publication: This category mentions the date on which the report is published. 4.Title of Report: This category is used to analyze the neutrality or bias in language, communicated at first glance to the masses vis-à-vis the topic. This is important as many people only looks at the titles of the news report and forms out their opinions. This is seen to be carefully selected by the news agencies. And they implement this notion on purpose to propagate their agenda and propaganda to the public. 5.Favorable Image: This category mentions whether the report is in favor of the Act 6.Negative Image: This category mentions whether the report is against the Act. 7.Neutral Image: To know whether the report is neutral and is neither in favour nor against the Act is mentioned here. 8.Trigger Words: Here the category focuses on accentuating the use and repetition of certain type of language, culturally and politically loaded terms, that subtly or blatantly incite a reaction from the readers, and impacts a certain way of thinking. This will be carefully looked upon and significance is given to the words which triggers a certain set of ideology and propaganda. 9.Summary: This column gives summarized version of what is written in the article and tries to collect the above information into sentences. 2.4 Study The study is based on the extensive research on the discourse analysis of print media in Pakistan. The event it has covered is Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. 2.5 Resources of the Study English and Urdu newspapers of Pakistan are the resources for this research. The editorials of three English newspapers namely Dawn, The Nation and The Express Tribune are carefully chosen whereas Jang, Daily Express and Daily Ummat are selected as Urdu resource. The total number of English articles (columns and editorials) are 24, whereas, the total number of Urdu articles (columns and editorials) are 44 which makes a total of 68 articles. The total number of news reports are 213, which includes 150 Urdu Reports and 63 are the English ones. 2.6 Sample Size Among the 24 English news articles (columns and editorials), 11 articles are of Express Tribune, six are of Dawn while seven are chosen from The Nation. For Urdu articles, the researcher has selected 17 from Daily Express, 26 from Daily Jang and one from Daily Ummat20 which makes a total of 44 articles. For report analysis, Daily Express comprises of 79 reports, Daily Jang includes 38 and Daily Ummat consists of 33 report which makes 150 Urdu reports altogether. Express Tribune, Dawn and The Nation contribute 15, 14 and 34 reports respectively. This makes a total of 63 English reports. 2.7 Research Duration The research duration lasted from 25th February 2016 to 31st March 2016. All those news articles (columns and editorials) and news reports published during that particular period are included for the research. 2.8 Rationale for the selection of the Newspapers Dawn, Express Tribune, and The Nation were selected for research because these newspapers are popular among the English-speaking population of Pakistan. The Urdu newspapers includes Daily Express, Daily Jang and Daily Ummat are and are widespread in the country. Dawn, Pakistan’s oldest English-language newspaper was launched by Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, in 194121. It was first used as a mouthpiece of the Muslim league before the partition of India. It is an independent entity and a well-designed newspaper that has comprehensive readership. It has wide circulation that is rising day by day. According to an estimate, 200,000 copies of Dawn newspapers are circulated every week. Besides this, Dawn has an online version of newspaper available. The Nation is another English-language newspaper in Pakistan. It is a part of the Nawaiwaqt Group founded by Hamid Nizami, who started the Nawaiwaqt in 1940. Thus, according to their official website, they claim to belong to the oldest newspaper tradition in the country22. The newspaper was officially launched in 198623. As per the newspaper’s official website, The Nation is the most quoted Pakistani newspaper internationally24. An online version of the newspaper is also available on The Nation’s website. Express Tribune, also an English newspaper launched in April 2010. According to their website, they are the first internationally affiliated newspaper. Being partners with New York Times, they claim to contribute towards Pakistan’s modern face. Tribune’s mission as written on their official Facebook page ‘is to defend the liberal values and egalitarian traditions we believe in, and which deserve to be upheld in writing that is both informative and insightful’25 Daily Jang, one of the oldest Urdu newspapers was founded in 1939. The newspaper has a circulation of over 800,000 copies per day.26 The Daily Jang Pakistan is published by the Jang Group of Newspapers. Jang Group of Newspapers is a subsidiary of the Independent Media Corporation. According to their official website, Daily Jang Pakistan is the largest distributed Urdu newspapers of Pakistan.27 Daily Express is also an Urdu newspaper which was founded in 1988. Being a national newspaper, it has an online version of it is also available on the net. It is published from different cities of Pakistan, for example, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad etc. Daily Ummat an Urdu newspaper, founded in 1997. The newspaper was launched by the late journalist, Salahudeen28. It is a right-winged and conservative newspaper as it has many Islamic magazines which it publishes, by the name of Ghazi and Takbeer29 It also has an online version of it available. 2.9 Content Analysis The research method for this study is to analyze the content published in the sampled newspapers. This method of analyzing the text is frequently used in the mass media content. It is used to examine the content these news articles (editorials and columns) and reports are using. Berelson (1952) views that “content analysis is a research technique that is objective, systematic and quantitative in description”. The content analysis permits the researcher to deal with larger issues of the procedure and consequence of communication. 2.10 Quantitative Analysis Quantitative analysis refers to the “objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical data using computational techniques”30. The focus of the Quantitative research is to gather numerical data and generalize it across groups of people or simply explain a phenomenon31. The researcher used quantitative analysis to understand the results of the study in a more detailed manner. The researcher also interpreted the articles (includes editorials and columns) and news reports in a systemic way in order get to the conclusions of the study in a better and comprehensive way. CHAPTER 3 3.1ANALYSIS This chapter will include the analysis of the news articles (columns and editorials) and news reports which were published during the month of February and March of 2016. The chapter performs the analysis on the news articles and news reports. By analyzing the content, the researcher will be able to know the number of articles and reports which were written in favour, against or presented in a neutral fashion. The first section of this chapter will do the analysis of the English newspaper articles (columns and editorials), and the news reports. The second section will include the analysis of the Urdu newspaper articles (columns and editorials) and news reports. Within both the sections a summary of what is discussed in the sections above is given to get a better understanding of the sections. The last section will be related to the comparison of the selected English and Urdu newspapers. This section will compare them on the basis of what is similar and what is different between these newspapers. 3.2ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS The results and findings of articles (columns and editorials) and news reports of the three selected English newspapers were discussed below. It looked at how many articles and reports were in favour, against and in neutral fashion. The trigger words and phrases which were associated with them are also discussed. 3.2.1NEWSPAPER ARTICLES (Columns and Editorials) A total of 24 news articles (columns and editorials) were published in the English newspapers between 25th February 2016 to 31st March 2016. Among these articles, six were of Dawn, 11 belonged to Express Tribune, while seven were present in The Nation. The three English newspapers which have been chosen are discussed separately below. 3.2.1.1Dawn Dawn news included six articles in total. Among the six articles, all of them were in favour of the Act and no article was written against it. This indicates that there were 100 percent articles of the Dawn which favored the Act. Four articles were written by females and two of them were written by male members. The articles appeared in Dawn between the dates of 27/02/2016 to 25/03/2016. The authors belong to different professions, these include, columnist, journalist, human right Activist, a teacher of Law and a police officer. The trigger word largely employed by the authors was ‘justice’. The Act was discussed least in these articles. The authors responded to the criticisms made by religious leaders and groups, and had condemn their assertions that the Act is in any way ‘un-Islamic’. They focused on the issues regarding the respectability of the women. Except for one article, no other article discusses the Act, these articles talked about the women’s dignity but not on the Act itself. The police officer, Maria Taimoor who was the only writer amongst the six others, highlights the Act by mentioning that the proper implementation of the Act can be endorsed if the police gets involved. Some of the headlines used in the article were Protecting Women32, Women's Dignity33etc. 3.2.1.3Express Tribune Express Tribune’s articles had the largest number of articles published among the three English newspapers which makes a total of 11 articles. All the 11 articles written were in favour of the Act and no article was against it. it means that 100 percent of the articles were positive in nature. Five articles were written by male members, five were written by the female members and the remaining one article was an editorial, thus no gender is mentioned. These articles were published between the dates 26/2/2016 to 25/3/2016. The trigger words that were repeated were violence, religious mindset, and culture. These articles supported the Act but did not discuss any clauses of the Act itself. The mentioning of the passing of the Act was evident in all the articles, but then there was no specific argument which can be written to discuss the Act itself. Criticism on the patriarchal mindset is observed during the research and the cultural traditions were mentioned in a lot of places to tell the public that it creates an environment which is not in favour of women. Some of the headlines used in the articles are ‘This Law May Be Late, But It’s Great’34, ‘Women are the last colony’35 etc. 3.2.1.2The Nation The Nation included seven articles (columns and editorial) in total. All the seven articles included were in favour of the Act and no article was against it. This helps in determining that the result is 100% positive in nature. two articles were written by females and three of them were written by male members. Two articles were editorials and thus no name of the author was mentioned. The articles appeared in The Nation between the dates of 28/02/2016 to 20/03/2016. The trigger words that were used in these articles were ‘violence’. All the authors included had were columnist, or journalist by profession and had no political affiliation. The tone of the articles represented a liberal mindset which supported the Act completely. The problem was that the discussions these articles were having on the Act included almost nothing related to the Act. There was an outcry against the conservative mindset which prevailed in the society and the articles focused on the point that it is the culture and traditions of Pakistan which has resulted in the violence against women to occur. Some of the headlines used in these articles are, ‘Support the Women's Protection Bill’36, ‘Resisting Religious Blackmail’37 etc. 3.2.1.4Summary of The Three Selected English Newspapers Articles (Columns and Editorials) By looking at the three selected English newspapers, the total number of articles published between 25th February 2016 and 31st March 2016 regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 were 24 in number. Among these 24 articles, all the articles (columns and editorials) in Dawn, Express Tribune and The Nation were framed in a favourable manner, these included six, 11 and seven articles respectively. There were no reports in the selected English newspapers were either negative nor they were in neutral in nature. The data is represented in the figure below: Fig a; Summary of English news articles which are in favour, against and neutral fashion. Among the 24 articles 10 articles were written by males, whereas 11 are written by females, and the remaining three articles were written under the editorial38. This makes 46% males, 42% females and 12% editorials. The data is represented below: Fig b; Percentage of males, females and editorials 3.2.2NEWS REPORTS The English newspapers Express Tribune, Dawn and The Nation contributes around 15, 14 and 34 reports respectively for the month of February and March 2016 regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab. This contributed to a total of 63 reports. The three English newspapers selected are discussed separately below. 3.2.2.1Dawn There were in total 14 reports covering the Women’s Protection Act. These reports appeared in Dawn between the dates of 24/02/2016 to 25/03/2016. Seven included primarily positive coverage of the Act. Five included negative coverage of the Act. Two appeared to cover the Act in a neutral fashion as it included comments from both those in favor and those against the Act. The provision of GPS trackers in the Act was discussed at large in the reports. The common critique of the Act was that it was ‘un-Islamic’, ‘against the Shariah’, designed to ‘destroy family systems’, and that it reflected the ‘West’. The common trigger word employed in defense of the Act was ‘justice’. ‘Rana Sana Ullah39’ was quoted the in reports that gave positive coverage to the Act. Maulana Fazl-u-Rehman was quoted or referred to the in reports that gave negative coverage to the Act. The coverage of the Act in the newspaper was low, and those reports were published which presented the positive image of the newspaper was observed. Some of the news reports used are, ‘Punjab's pro-women law against constitution, Shariah: Fazl’40, ‘Religious parties denounce law protecting women from abuse as 'un-Islamic'41 etc. 3.2.2.2Express Tribune Express Tribune has published around 15 reports in total regarding the Women Protection Act. Among these reports eight were in favour of the Act, whereas, six were against the Act and one report did the neutral reporting of the event. These reports appeared in Tribune from 25/02/2016 to 31/03/2016. The report which covered in neutral manner reported on the details of the Act, and discussed the provisions of the Act. There were words and phrases used in the news reports which makes it easy for the reader to recognize them as negative reports. Whenever the report mentions Maulana Fazl ur Rehman42 in the report that report is negative. Also, the use of the words like challenge, religious parties, not were all the signs of the report being not in favour of the Act. The trigger words and phrases which were used in these reports were ‘will not let Pakistan become a secular country’, ‘Act challenged in supreme court’, ‘un-Islamic’. The positive reporting of the Act uses words and phrases which were positive in nature. There is a constructive criticism in some of the news, for example the report published on 26th February 2016 the report mentions civil society criticizing the Act but in response to that the MPA makes a statement that this is a step by step process and will take time. Some of the reports used are, ‘Will not let Pakistan become secular, says Fazlur Rehman’43, ‘Fazl says PM has promised to tweak women’s law’44 etc. 3.2.2.3 The Nation The Nation has published around 34 reports in total which highlighted the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. These were the greatest number of news reports published by a newspaper among the three selected newspapers. Amongst these 34 reports, 12 reports were the ones which reported in favour of the Act, 17 reports were the ones which reported against the Act and five reports were reported in a neutral fashion. These reports appeared in The Nation from 25/02/2016 to 26/03/2016. The reports which were in favour of the Act covered the aspects which used words and phrases which were positive in nature, i.e. they favored the Act. For example, the words and phrases like ‘praise’, ‘defends the Act’, ‘unanimously accepted’, ‘good omen’, ‘justice’, ‘mediation’, ‘resolution of disputes’. The ones which reported the against the Act used words and phrases which were negative in nature regarding the Act. For example, the words and phrases used in a negative manner included, ‘un-Islamic’, ‘horrible’, ‘conflict with the Sharia’, ‘destabilize the strong family system’, ‘western agenda’, ‘interest of NGOs’, ‘conflict with the law, objective resolution and the constitution’, ‘liberal’, ‘blasphemous’, ‘reservations’, ‘condemned’, ‘violence’. The reports which were used in the neutral fashion included majorly the description of the Act, which includes discussing the clause of the Act. It also discusses the meetings to be held between government and the Ulema council to discuss the Act under Quran and Sunnah. The news reports used in the news reports are, ‘Fazl mocks women protection bill saying, 'we should just call husband wife now'’45, ‘Husbands’ future in Punjab ‘horrible’: Fazl’46 3.2.2.4Summary of The Three Selected English News Reports By looking at the three selected English newspapers, the total number of reports published between 25th February 2016 and 31st March 2016 regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 were 63 in number. Among these 63 reports it is observed that the 27 reports framed the Act in a favourable manner. These included seven reports from Dawn, eight from Express Tribune, and 12 were from The Nation. The reports which framed the news in negative manner were 28 in number. These included five reports from Dawn, six from Express Tribune, and 17 were from The Nation. While, only eight news reports were the ones which were framed in a neutral manner from the three selected English newspapers. Two belonged to Dawn, one belonged to Express Tribune, and five belonged to The Nation. The data is represented in the figure below: Fig c: English News reports which were written in favour, against, and neutral fashion. 3.3 URDU NEWSPAPERS The results and findings of articles (columns and editorials) and news reports of the three selected English newspapers were discussed below. It reveals how many articles and reports were in favour, against and in neutral fashion. The trigger words and phrases which were associated with them were also discussed. 3.3.1 NEWSPAPER ARTICLES (Columns and Editorials) A total of 44 news articles (columns and editorials) were published in the Urdu newspapers between 25th February 2016 to 31st March 2016. Among these articles, 17 articles belonged to Daily Express, 26 were of Daily Jang, while one47 was present in Daily Ummat. The three Urdu newspapers which have been chosen are discussed separately below. 3.3.1.1Daily Express The second most populated newspaper among the selected three newspapers with around 17 articles written on the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. These articles were published between 28/02/2016 and 22/03/2016. Within these dates some articles were published with a gap of two to three days, and there were some days in which three articles got published on the same day regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. Among these 17 articles, only five articles were written by the female members and 12 articles were written by the male members. The people who wrote these articles had no political affiliation. All of them belonged to a different set of professions. Among the five female members, four were columnists and one was a journalist by profession. The 12 male members who wrote their article regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016, also belonged to different professions. Six articles were written by columnists, and among these six columnists, one of them was an advocate as well. The remaining six articles were written by four journalists, a doctor and a professor. From the 17 articles that were written in total, eight articles were the ones which were in favour of the Act and six articles were the ones which were tilted more towards negative side. The remaining three articles showed variance in their articles. It seems that the writer in those articles was neither in favour nor against the Act, the writers of the article were more focused on the implementation of the Act rather than just passing it. thus, it can be called in a neutral fashion. For example, one of the articles praised the Act but then put a condition that it if the government is willing to work for the implementation processes, then only the Act can have an effect. Thus, they showed neither favouring or disagreeing with the Act. The articles either did not talk about the Act itself, and rather talked in general terms, i.e. about the safety of the women. The ones which tried to engage with the Act misinterpreted it by making the Act to be brought down to domestic violence only, although, the Act was related to any kind of violence against women. One of the misinterpretation of fActs was seen when the articles tried to compare the Pakistani society with European society, and with countries, like Sweden Austria, Germany which have nothing in relation to the Pakistani society. A reference to the culture and religion was quoted by the articles which were against the Act and the only thing they focused their attention towards was that the Pakistani culture does not support the violence against women and Islam being a peaceful religion, does not allow any such kind of Activities in which women were abused and ridiculed, instead it promotes the honour of the women. The trigger words and phrases which were used frequently were, Islam, ghairat (honour), chadar aur char diwari (sheet and four walls)48, hamari aurat (our woman), hamaray khandaan, hamaari iqdar (our families, our values), tashaddud (violence), zulm (cruelty), riwayat (customs), hamara muashra (our society). 3.3.1.2Daily Jang Daily Jang being the newspaper with the highest number of articles published during the period between 27/02/2016 and 31/03/2016. The number of articles published between these dates were 26 in total. Among these 26 articles, 14 articles were the ones which favored the Act and eight articles were written against the Act and the remaining four were written in a neutral fashion. Daily Jang is the only newspaper in the among the three selected newspapers which has greater number positive articles in nature. Within these dates some articles were published with a gap of two to three days, and there were some days in which four to five articles got published on the same day regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. Among these 26 articles, two articles were written by female members, whereas, 24 articles were written by male members. The people who wrote these articles had no political affiliation. All of them belonged to a different set of professions. Among the two female members, Kishwer Naheed is a feminist Urdu poet, and Dr. Sughra Sadaf is a poet, writer and a columnist by profession. The 24 male members who wrote their articles regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016, also belonged to different professions. 18 articles were written by the people who were columnists by profession, and among these 18 columnists, two of them were writer and columnist both in nature, and five pf them were journalist and columnist by profession. 11 of them were journalist by profession. Two of the journalist were also analysts by profession as well and four writers among the 11 journalists, were both writers and journalists by profession. The articles which were against the Act misquoted it with domestic violence only. These authors only highlight domestic situations, i.e. husband wife relationships but fails to talk about how the Act provides protection to all women in any situation of abuse and harassment. One of the headlines said Qanoon saazi nahi zehan saazi49 (no need for legislation but mind building needed)50 The articles which were written in favour of the Act included headlines like, khawateen k khilaaf tashaddud roknay ka bill manzoor51 (violence against the women bill approved), mardon k lia refreshment course (a refreshment course for men)52, EK Qaable Sataish Qadam-Amal Zaruri53 (an appreciating step-implementation necessary). The trigger words and phrases used by these articles which were against the Act were khandani nizam tehes nehas (destruction of family system), aurat ko bahir nikalne k nuqsanaat (disadvantages of taking women out of the house), chadar aur chaar diwaari (sheet and four walls)54 3.3.1.2Daily Ummat Daily Ummat, a conservative newspaper, had only one article written for the entire month. It was negative in nature. Only one article being published for the entire duration regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016, was since many articles were written on Mumtaz Qadri55 and his hanging. Besides this, there were other articles which were written on women generally, there was no mentioning of the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. All the other newspapers, even if they have talked about the women issues in general they have brought only the name of the Act in their article. The article was titled as ‘Zan Mureed56 (follower of women). This article is written by Amjad Chaudhry, columnist who writes for Daily Ummat. The article starts off by appreciating maulana Fazl ur Rehman for doing something which appreciable according to the writer, and that is his stance on criticizing the Act. The article further criticized by saying that the concept of zan mureedi (following of women by men) is prevailing in our society and it is all happening with the help of west and the NGOs which follow the western agenda. The article emphasis that the strategy of the west is to spread vulgarity in the society and the corruption of our decent women, who lives in her home and who values her honour in the honour of the family. He then criticized that the Punjab government had been using the media to propagate their agenda of passing the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 for some days and now without consulting anyone has passed it from the assembly. He emphasized that this is a very important time to pass the Act, as the Prime Minister of Pakistan looks very much happy with the Oscar winner, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, and is thinking of reconsidering the Act on Honour Killings. He further criticized Chinoy by saying she has been awarded by west so that she can take their agenda and implement it in the country. He then criticized the Act by saying that the Act will result in the switching of the roles between man and woman and after that men will be in need Darul Aman (shelter houses) by the government as they will be victims then. He has also misinterpreted the Act with domestic violence only. He also criticized by saying that this Act will result in the increased divorce rates, and this will lead further to the western concept of partners staying with each other without getting married. He further quotes a verse of the Quran and tries to tell that men were the saviors and guardians of the women. Thus, he mentions that Islam does not allow the kind of vulgarity which is spreading by this Act and he does not support the Act. The trigger words and phrases which were frequently used by the writer were, zan mureedi (following of women by men), divorce, khandani nizam (family system), hamaari iqdar (our values), tashaddud (violence), Islam, ghairat (honour), chadar aur char diwari (sheet and four walls), hamari aurat (our woman), hamaray khandaan, (our families), zulm (cruelty), riwayat (customs), hamara muashra (our society) maghrib aur us k tarz per chalnay wali NGOs (west and the NGOs following the footsteps), maghribi muashra (western society). 3.3.1.4Summary of The Three Selected Urdu News Articles (Columns and Editorials) By looking at the three selected Urdu newspapers, the total number of articles published between 25th February 2016 and 31st March 2016 regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 were 44 in number. Among these 44 articles, 22 articles were written in favour of the Act, whereas, 15 articles were written against the act. The remaining seven articles were written in a neutral fashion. Among the 22 articles which were written in favour of the Act included eight articles from Daily Express, 14 were from Daily Jang, and none from Daily Ummat. The 15 negatively framed articles included six, eight and one article from Daily Express, Daily Jang, and Daily Ummat respectively. The seven articles which were written in neutral fashion included three from Daily Express, four from Daily Jang, and none from Daily Ummat. The data is represented in the figure below: Fig d: Urdu Newspaper articles which were written in favour, against, and neutral fashion. Among the 44 articles 37 articles were written by males, whereas seven were written by females, and the remaining three articles were written under the editorial57. This makes 84% males, 16% females and 0% editorials. The data is represented below: Fig e; representation of gender participation in Urdu newspaper articles 3.3.2NEWS REPORTS The Urdu newspapers Daily Express, Daily Jang and Daily Ummat contributes around 79, 38 and 33 reports respectively for the month of February and March 2016 regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab. This contributed to a total of 150 reports. The three English newspapers selected are discussed separately below. 3.3.2.1Daily Express Daily Express, the Urdu counterpart of Express Tribune. The newspaper published 79 reports in total regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. These reports were published between 25/02/2016 to 30/03/2016. Among the 79 news reports, 18 reports were the one which were in favour of the Act, 52 were written against the Act, and nine were written in a neutral fashion. Among these 79 reports, only one of them described the Act. In one other report the reporter tries to analyze the Act in the manner of domestic violence and mentions that the husband will have to wear a tracker after the complaint is registered, whereas the act mentions that the defendant58 will wear it once he is proven guilty. The people mentioned in the negative reports were Maulana Fazl ur Rehman59, Maulana Tahir Ashrafi60, Hafiz Saeed61, and Dr. Durdana Siddiqui62. The reports which covered the positive image of the Act included people from the ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Some of the headlines which portrayed the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 are, Protection Bill: Khatoon ki pitayi par mard ko jail, hathon mai tracker chooriyan (Protection bill: if woman gets beaten up, the man has to go to the jail, tracker bracelets in the hands), Punjab Assembly k bill mai mard ko mazaq bana diya gaya: Tahir Ashrafi (the bill of Punjab Assembly has made fun of the man: Tahir Ashrafi), Huqooq-e-Niswan Bill ki manzoori qaabil-e-muzammat hai: Abdul Ghaffar Ropri (acceptance of Women protection bill is condemnable-Abdul Ghaffar Ropri). The trigger words and phrases used in the negative reports were Mashriqi riwayaat k khilafat baghawat (rebellion against eastern traditions), tamasha (Pageant), insaniat ki tazleel, Pakistani muashra, Bharat (India), nazariya-e-Pakistan ko dafan karne k lye (burial of the ideology of Pakistan, kangan/kada (bracelet/tracker), Liberal, secular, khandani nizam (family system), maghrib (west), liberal qaumon (liberal law), maghribi qanooni (western law), saazish (conspiracy) talaaq (divorce) 3.3.2.2Daily Jang Daily Jang is comprised of 38 reports in total which covered the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. The news reports were published between the dates 25/02/2016 to 27/03/2016 Among these 33 reports only 11 report favored the Act, 20 reports reported against it, and the remaining seven reports were written in a neutral fashion. The news reports that were published misquoted the Act with domestic violence, as the headlines which were written presented it in the context of domestic violence. For example, one of the headline is as follows Khawateen pe tashadud, bad kalami, maar peet walay shohar ko ghar se bahir jana hoga63 (violence, abusive and ferocious husband will have to leave home). The people mentioned in the negative reports were Maulana Fazl ur Rehman64, Hafiz Saeed65, Maulana Tahir Ashrafi66, and Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani67, The trigger words and phrases used were majorly used were khaandaan tootna (breaking of family), talaaq mein izafa (increase in the rate of divorce), mard ki tazleel (insult of man), Zan mureed (follower of women), besharmi (shamelessness), behayai (vulgarity), ghair sharaii (non-sharia) 3.3.2.3Daily Ummat Daily Ummat is comprised of 33 reports in total which covered the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. The news reports were published between the dates 25/02/2016 to 17/03/2016 Among these 33 reports only one report favored the Act, 28 reports reported against it, and the remaining four reports were written in a neutral fashion. The news reports published were in the form of opinions. The headlines were framed in a way which showed clear bias of the reporter. However, when reading the news within that headline it was recognizable that news headline has specially been framed in such a way to report the Act in the negative manner. The term act was misquoted with the word bill in the published by Daily Ummat. List of some the headlines from the newspaper which were negative in nature were as follows: ‘Tahaffuz e Niswaan Bill Maghribi Agenda Qarar, Mazhabi Jamaaton ne mustarad kerdia’68 (Women Protection Bill called Western Agenda, religious parties reject it). ‘Tahaffuz e Niswaan bill ghair sharai- aain se mutasadim Qarar’69 (Women Protection Bill accepted as against Shariah and the constitution). ‘Bill k baad khawateen sher- Gujrat main makan naam na kernay per biwi ne shohar ko jala diya’70 (Women have become bold/stronger after the passing of the bill-wife burned husband for not naming the house on her name in Gujrat). ‘Niswan Bill Khandaani nizam tabah kernay ki saazish hai. Jamiat Ulema Pakistan’ (Women bill is a conspiracy to destroy family system). The details in the news reports were also showing that it was emphasizing on that part which mentioned something against the Act. For example, one of the news report published on 28/02/2016 mentioned Bilawal Bhutto71 appreciating the passing of the Act and recognisng that it is necessary, but later it points out and emphasizes on the fAct that Bilawal Bhutto72 criticized the Punjab government on passing such an Act which has flaws and it should be reconsidered. The reports which were against the Act quoted mainly people like Maulana Fazl ur Rehman73, Maulana Yusuf Salafi74, Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani75, and Hafiz Mohammed Saeed76. On the other hand, the reports which represented the Act in a neutral manner mentioned people from the government like Ayaz Sadiq77 and Pervaiz Rasheed78 and the single report which was written in favour of the Act mentioned Mir Hasil Bazenjo79. The trigger words and phrases which were majorly used were ghair Islami (un-Islamic), ghair aaini (unconstitutional), Khandaani nizam tabah kernay ki saazish (destruction of the family system), maghrib ko khush kia gaya (made the west happy), tashaddud (violence), maghribi agenda (western agenda), and Islam mukhalif (against Islam). 3.3.2.4Summary of The Three Selected Urdu Newspaper Reports By looking at the three selected Urdu newspapers, the total number of reports published between 25th February 2016 and 31st March 2016 regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 were 150 in number. Among these 150 articles, 30 reports were written in favour of the Act, whereas, 100 reports were written against the Act. The remaining 30 articles were written in a neutral fashion. Among the 30 articles which were written in favour of the Act included 18 articles from Daily Express, 11 were from Daily Jang, and one from Daily Ummat. The 100 negatively framed articles included 52, 20 and 28 reports from Daily Express, Daily Jang, and Daily Ummat respectively. The 20 articles which were written in neutral fashion included nine from Daily Express, seven from Daily Jang, and four from Daily Ummat. The data is represented in the figure below: Fig f; representation of Urdu newspaper reports which framed the news in favour, against and in neutral fashion. 3.4Comparison Between English And Urdu News Papers This section will compare the English and Urdu newspapers in the context of newspaper articles (columns and editorials) and news reports that were published regarding the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 between 25th February 2016 to 30th March 2016. 3.4.1 Comparison of News Articles (Columns and Editorials) of the selected English and Urdu Newspapers By looking at the six selected English and Urdu Newspapers we clearly see that there are several points of comparisons between the two languages. Firstly, we see that Urdu newspapers cover an event like Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 more as compared to the Urdu newspapers. As we move on we see that the number of newspaper articles in English newspapers were inclined towards favouring of the Act, whereas, the Urdu Newspaper articles were in a state of diversity with more articles which were in favour then the ones which were against the Act. The next point of comparison between them is the ratio of number of male and female representation in these articles. There were more females that wrote for the English newspapers as compared to male members. It was almost an equal opportunity80 given to both genders in English newspapers. Whereas, when we move our attention towards Urdu Newspapers, we see that male members were present in greater number as compared to the females in articles written on the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. There was no single person who wrote the articles to have any political affiliation. All of them were journalists, columnists, writers, poets etc. The trigger words and phrases were used more in Urdu newspapers as compared to the English newspapers. Trigger words like ‘violence’, ‘divorce’, ‘destabilize the family system’ etc. 3.4.2Comparison of News reports of the selected English and Urdu Newspapers By looking at the six selected English and Urdu Newspapers we clearly see that there are several points of comparisons between the two languages. Firstly, we see that Urdu newspapers coverd the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 more as compared to the Urdu newspapers. As we move on we see that the number of newspaper reports in English newspapers were inclined towards favouring of the Act, whereas, the Urdu Newspapers reports covered it more in a negative manner. The trigger words and phrases were used more in Urdu newspapers as compared to the English newspapers. Trigger words like ‘violence’, ‘divorce’, ‘destabilize the family system’, ‘western agenda’, ‘interest of NGOs’, ‘conflict with the law, objective resolution and the constitution’, ‘liberal’, ‘blasphemous’, ‘reservations’, ‘condemned’. These were the trigger words and phrases which were common in both English and Urdu newspapers. Although, the Urdu newspapers used more of the trigger words and phrases and these included words and phrases like, maghrib ko khush kia gaya (made the west happy), tashaddud (violence), maghribi agenda (western agenda), and Islam mukhalif (against Islam), mard ki tazleel (insult of man), Zan mureed (follower of women), besharmi (shamelessness), behayai (vulgarity), ghair sharaii (against sharia). CONCLUSION The thesis after doing the Discourse Analysis of Print Media; Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016 (“Act”) comes to a conclusion that yes media houses use framing as a method to invoke different kinds of attitudes in people. They use different techniques to make their intentions obvious. They use these methods to spread a message according to their ideology. In the coverage of such type of events it is necessary for the media to follow a certain ethical framework to present the news in the most objective and neutral manner as possible. Media ethics is the study of principles that guides the journalists to responsibly behave amongst each other and within the society (Ward, 2011). It is generally concerned with freedom and independence, but with the element of responsibility and accountability included in it. Since, to be objective is one of the main objective of the media, and as Hackett (1984) put it as: ‘The ideal of objectivity suggests that facts can be separated from opinion or value judgments and that journalists can stand apart from the real-world events whose truth or meaning they transfer to the news audience by means of neutral language and competent reporting techniques.’ (Hackett, 1984) There are instances when media overlook their responsibility and tries to spread a certain agenda which they feel is appropriate. The claim of print media to be objective and do the neutral reporting of the event is very idealized, and we see that the media overlooks objectivity and focuses on spreading their own agenda. They use different words and phrases to make it obvious using a certain set of ideologies. In this research, I could figure that an event like the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016 is covered more in the Urdu newspapers as compared to the English newspapers in terms of both newspaper articles (columns and editorials) and newspaper reports. The English newspapers gave almost an equal opportunity to both male and female members. But, the Urdu newspapers have a very few number of female members as compared to the males. Thus, the research has proven that media uses framing as a method to spread their agenda in the public. However, this research is only covering very small aspect of, media and it has a lot of limitation and future as well Limitations Newspapers are the only form of media that are used in this study. And within the print media platforms, only six newspapers are taken into account, which means that these six newspapers cannot give the complete picture of the news. Further, one of the limitation that this newspaper is facing is the issue of the unavailability of the online data of some of these newspapers. For example, Daily Jang, recently removed their online data and it is not accessible online. Only the articles can be accessed by searching the name of the writer of the article on the website, but news reports cannot be accessed, since they do not have the names of the reported mentioned on them. The time when the research was started the data was available and now at this point of time the data is available from June 2016 onwards. Implications of the Study In this study, we have focused on how media frames a contentious Act such as the Women Protection Act of Punjab 2016. The thesis can create a platform, from where the media houses and publications can have a re-look at the news they publish and the journalistic practices they use which at many times are supposed to be scrutinized and pondered over. 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