Since its independence in 1947, Pakistani media has been diverse, encompassing both print and broadcast platforms. The industry includes state-owned outlets like PTV and Radio Pakistan, as well as a vibrant private sector with numerous television channels, FM radio stations, and now online news portals. Currently, digital media is also making its contribution towards the information and entertainment needs of society. While the media enjoys relative freedom, it operates under significant state influence, regulatory constraints, and occasional censorship (Siraj, 2009). Journalists face pressure from both government authorities and non-state actors like different pressure groups, impacting editorial independence. Ownership is concentrated among a few powerful business groups, often linked to political and corporate interests, which influence news agendas. Despite challenges, Pakistan’s media remains a crucial space for political debate, public discourse, and investigative journalism.
Elite Press of Pakistan always pushes the boundaries of censorship by encouraging freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Many journalists lost their lives in line with their professional duties while voicing the marginalized communities (Niazi & Mustafa, 1986) and sometimes giving news from terrorism-affected areas of Pakistan (Jamil, 2018).
Pakistan has become a high-risk country for journalists from past many years and now with a hybrid democratic regime, influenced by the establishment, there is a new level of repression and discrimination for press freedom and rising voices for democratic and legal rights according to the constitution of Pakistan (Jamil, 2019).
In this media landscape, the two following newspapers that have been selected for the current study are Daily The Nation, and Daily The Dawn. The profiles of the selected newspapers are as follows:
PROFILE OF DAILY ‘THE NATION’
Founded in 1986, The Nation is part of the Nawa-i-Waqt Group, and thus belongs to the oldest newspaper tradition in the country, which started when Hamid Nizami founded Nawa-i-Waqt, an Urdu daily, in 1940, the day the Pakistan Resolution was passed during the time of British India. The legacy flourishes under the leadership of late Majid Nizami and still continues to thrive.[1] Other publications of this group are Nawa-i-Waqt (daily), Family Magazine (weekly), Nida-i-Millat (weekly), and Phool (monthly).
It is a chain-paper published simultaneously from Islamabad, Karachi, Gwadar, and Lahore. Lahore edition started on Wednesday, October 1st, 1986. The policy envisaged by Arif Nizami is that ‘The Nation’ pledges to defend the idea of one nation based on Islam. The Nation rejects all new theories embraced by certain politicians under opportunistic compulsions that undermine this national separatism on grounds of ethnicity, language and region (Jan, 2014). The Nation pledges to uphold the basic tenets of Islam but rejects the monopoly of any party or group to interpret Islam (Ashraf, 2005). It rejects bigotry and prejudice that give rise to sectarianism. The Nation opposes the adventurism of political and economic doctrines that have proved costly to Pakistan in the past. It upholds independence in the conduct of the country’s foreign policy, genuine non-alignment and equidistance from the superpowers and their global contest.[2] The Nation struggles for the establishment of a society based on social justice, equality of opportunity, and democratic institutions. ‘The Nation’ has a nationalistic view and it is aligned with the above-mentioned facts and the policy of the newspaper corroborates it (Raza & Akbar, 2012). Therefore, it can be assumed that the Nation will be aligned with high media state parallelism.
PROFILE OF DAILY ‘THE DAWN’
The DAWN Group of Newspapers, published by the Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Limited (PHPL) was founded by the Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the father of the nation. He said about the Dawn, “ The Dawn will mirror faithfully the views of India’s Muslims and the All India Muslim League in all its activities: economic, educational and social and more particularly political, throughout the country fearlessly and independently and while its policy will be, no doubt, mainly to advocate and champion the cause of the Muslims and the policy and program of the All India Muslim League, it will not neglect the cause and welfare of the peoples of this sub-continent generally” (Raza & Akbar, 2012, p. 2). The group began its publication, the DAWN newspaper, in 1947, immediately after independence and has ever since expanded its base from a single to an array of publications catering to the varying interests of readers and advertisers. PHPL, in addition to DAWN – the first newspaper to be published in Pakistan and the most widely circulated, published the STAR (an English language evening edition folded in 2005), HERALD (a monthly current affairs magazine folded in 2019), SPIDER (a monthly Internet magazine folded in 2015) and AURORA (a marketing and advertising based bi-monthly magazine).[3] The Group is also a pioneer in electronic publishing. Dawn’s website is generally considered the best source of news from Pakistan on the web (Long, 2009).
The Dawn newspaper is the flagship publication of the PHPL, published from Karachi, the largest business hub of the country, Lahore, the second largest and fastest developing business sector of Pakistan, and Islamabad, the capital of the nation. Throughout Pakistan, the DAWN is the most widely circulated English language newspaper of Pakistan, enjoying a nationwide influence. It has a weekday circulation of over 138,000 and a total readership base above 759,000 (Parveen & Zahoor, (2018, p. 316).
‘The Dawn’ has a ‘liberal look’, the above-mentioned facts and the envisioned policy corroborate the standpoint. ‘Therefore, it can be assumed that the Dawn will be aligned with low media political parallelism.
References
Ashraf, A. (2005). Analysis of reliance on global news sources of Pakistan’s elite English dailies: A case study of the US-Afghan conflict (Pre and post September 11, scenario) An MPhil thesis submitted to AIOU for the partial fulfillment of the requirement of the MPhil degree.
Jamil, S. (2018). Safety threats, impunity and professionalism: Journalists’ dilemma in Pakistan. Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 6(7), 571-578.
Jamil, S. (2019). Culture of impunity and safety of journalists: Is safe journalism a distant dream in Pakistan?. World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies, (1), 51-66.
Jan, F. (2014). Conceptualizing image of the United States in Pakistani Print Media: A Case Study of daily The Nation. Global Media Journal: Pakistan Edition, 7(2), 18-24.
Long, R. D. (2009). Dawn and the Creation of Pakistan. Media History, 15(4), 407-421.
Niazi, Z., & Mustafa, Z. (1986). Press in Chains Karachi.
Parveen, S., & Zahoor, M. A. (2018). Derailed Democracy and Daily Dawn: A Critical Analysis of Editorials and Columns (October 1999-August 2002). Journal of History, Culture & Art Research/Tarih Kültür ve Sanat Arastirmalari Dergisi, 7(5).
Raza, M. R., & Akbar, M. W. (2012). Image of President Asif Ali Zardari as portrayed by Daily Dawn and News: A discourse analysis of editorials. J Mass Communicat Journalism, 2(113), 2-6.
Siraj, S. A. (2009). Critical analysis of press freedom in Pakistan. Journal of Media and Communication Studies, 1(3), 43.
[1] The Nation (About us). Retrieved from https://www.nation.com.pk/about-us
[2] https://muckrack.com/media-outlet/nation-1#!
[3] https://www.dawn.com/news/1354278