FRAMING ANALYSIS OF THE NEWS ON PROVINCE RESTORATION: A CASE OF HISTORICAL REGION OF BAHAWALPUR

Abstract

The portrayal of the local issues by the local vs national newspapers in the historical region of Bahawalpur remained an unaddressed phenomenon. The current research was conducted to investigate that which of the national vs local dailies portrayed Bahawalpur as province restoration issue more than the other, how the local dailies framed the Bahawalpur as province restoration issue and how the national dailies framed the Bahawalpur as province restoration issue. The newspapers included Sutlej and Sayadat (local) while national dailies while Jang and Nawa-i-Waqt (national) newspapers to know how the issues of Bahawalpur are highlighted and framed by the newspapers. The researcher used content analysis technique by applying framing theory and purposive sampling as a study tool. The researcher mainly focused how much coverage was given by national vs local dailies and, how the issue was being framed by the selected news dailies. The researchers found that local newspapers gave 08 times more coverage to the issue of Bahawalpur restoration as province than the national newspapers. More over the local newspapers framed the issue 40 times more positively than the national newspapers whereas it was evident that national dailies framed the news more neutrally than being positively or negatively and those national newspapers were more neutral in framing the local issues than the local newspapers.