A Study of English Newspapers with reference to Reporting of Religious Minorities

Abstract

Religious minorities are considered an integral part of the population of any state. Such minorities are being provided legal, civil, and constitutional protection and tried to be treated with parity. Likewise, media is regarded as the fourth pillar of a state in the context of the ability to advocate the issues of society, shaping the opinion and entrusted to represent all segments of the population with equality. This study is conducted to examine the print media coverage of religious minorities in English newspapers of Pakistan and has been carried out with the purpose of investigating how coverage of such newspapers of English medium is depicting different aspects related to minorities. News reports, editorials, and articles of two widely circulated English newspapers Daily Dawn and The Nation have been analyzed employing content analysis method with quantitative approach. The period of this study was three months i.e.01st January 2018 to 31st March 2018 wherein the reporting of these newspapers relating to minorities was analyzed at the front, last, and inside pages including the articles and editorials. It is revealed that a total of 31 news reports were published about religious minorities. Out of this,26were reported by Daily Dawn and only 05 news were published by The Nation. Moreover, Daily Dawn published 02 editorials, and The Nation published only 01. Besides, it is revealed that the religious minorities are given less reporting in English newspapers and have been portrayed in an unfavorable tone. Finally, it is observed that Daily Dawn provides more coverage to minority issues as compared to The Nation