Comparative analysis of press coverage of political parties news and advertisements coverage of national dailies regarding election 2013 in pakistan by abid zafar

Comparative Analysis of Political Parties’ News and Advertisements Coverage of
National Urdu Dailies Regarding Election 2013
By
Abid Zafar
11040716-022
Session: 2011-2013
Supervisor: Mr. Zahid Bilal
Centre for Media and Communication Studies
University of Gujrat

Comparative Analysis of Political Parties News and Advertisements Coverage of National
Dailies Regarding Election 2013
(Comparative Study of Daily Jang and Daily Express)

By
Abid Zafar
11040716-022
Session: 2011-2013
Supervisor: Mr. Zahid Bilal
A thesis submitted to the Centre for Media and Communication Studies in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Masters in
Mass Communication and Media

Certificate of Approval
It is certified that Abid Zafar has completed his dissertation titled
“Comparative Analysis of Political Parties News and Advertisements Coverage of National Urdu
Dailies Regarding Election 2013” (A Case Study of Daily Jang and Daily Express). In
accordance with the requirement of the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Masters in Mass
Communication and Media, session 2011-13. This original piece of research work is accepted

and approved for viva.
Internal Examiner:
___________________________
External Examiner:
___________________________
Head:
___________________________
Director:
___________________________

CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL
It is certified that Abid Zafar session (2011-13) has completed his dissertation, titled
“Comparative Analysis of Political Parties News and Advertisements Coverage of National Urdu
Dailies Regarding Election 2013 (Comparative Study of ‘Daily Jang’ and ‘Daily Express’)”, in
accordance with the requirement for the partial fulfillment of the Master Degree in Mass
Communication and Media. This thesis has been submitted and approved on --------------------.

Supervisor
Mr. Zahid Bilal
Centre for Media and Communication Studies

Dedication
To Allah who dwells in every breath that is taken, He Who shapes from nothing to
something, He Who is embedded in every thought, He Who is the light to the truth, the Designer
of challenges and Path to the glory. “He Who raised the heavens without pillars that you see, and
He is firm in power and He made the sun and the moon subservient (to you); each our pursues its
course to an appointed time; He regulates the affairs, making clear the signs that you may be
certain of meeting your Lord (Al-Quran)”. I dedicate this work of mine to the One who surpasses
every will.

Acknowledgement
In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful. I am thankful to Almighty
Allah who enabled me to complete my research. I am grateful to my supervisor Sir Zahid Bilal
who was not only an inspiration for me but also helped me at every step and stood by me through
thick and thin. I thank Mr. Ehtisham Sethi for helping me select the topic of my thesis. At this
point, I would also like to thank Madam Saira Saeed and Madam Sobia Abid whose support kept
me working with my thesis with zeal and zest. Ammar Gondal deserves my cordial thanks as he
helped me in data collection. I humbly thank my uncle, Abdul Sattar whose prayers shadowed

me throughout.
I would also thank all members of my family especially my parents whose practical
support made it possible to do anything. I also thank my class fellows in general and the
members of the faculty of Centre for Media and Communication Studies in particular. My
teacher, Mr. Mudasser Javed cannot be forgotten who showed me the way to take admission in
this department and kept me high spirited to complete my tasks.

Comparative Analysis of Political Parties’ News and Advertisements Coverage of National
Urdu Dailies Regarding Election 2013
(Comparative Study of Daily Jang and Daily Express)

/0.!0
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Introduction
1.1 Background of Elections and Mass Media in Pakistan
1.2 Mass Media and Voting Behavior in Pakistan

1.3 Mass Media Coverage of the Election
1.4 Election 2013 in Pakistan

1.5 Newspaper Coverage of Elections
1.6 Rationale of the Study
1.7 Objectives
1.8 Research Questions
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Literature Review
2.1 Hypothesis
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3.2 Framing
3.3 Relationship of Topic with Theories

3.4 Propaganda Model

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Research Methodology

4.1 Content analysis

4.2 Universe

4.3 Sample of Study

4.4 Unit of Analysis

4.9 Slant with Operationalization

4.10 News stories which weren’t the part of this study
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Data Analysis and Interpretation

Conclusion
Areas for Future Research Recommendations
Limitations
#$#.#+!#/

Abstract
On May 11, 2013 elections held in Pakistan where media specially, print media played a
vital role in setting different agendas for changing the behaviors of voters. During election
campaigns, political parties try to get more coverage in their news and advertisements for
influencing on the behavior of voters. This study examines the relationship of advertisements and
news coverage of main stream political parties during the 10th general election campaign in
Pakistan from March 15, 2013 to May 10, 2013. The study attempts to provide a comparative
analysis of two national language newspapers Daily Jang and Daily Express that how both
dailies cover the news and advertisements of different main stream political parties with number
of news and advertisements frequency, space, placement and slant on front and back pages of
both national newspapers. The main aim of this study is to examine that which political party got
more space, placement, frequency and slant in both newspapers and is there any relationship of
news stories and advertisements which were published during election campaign? The study
involves the theoretical framework of agenda setting, Framing and Propaganda model by using
content analysis research technique. The findings of the study revealed that both newspapers had
same policy for different political parties. Both newspapers gave more space, frequency,
placement and more favorable slant to a particular political party. However, both dailies
published more advertisements to a particular political party for their economical interests and
published more news stories with frequency, space, placement and slant of a particular party
which was in power in this scenario. The research concluded that both newspapers had their
same policy for publishing news stories and advertisements.
Key words: Comparison, Content Analysis, Agenda Setting, Framing, Election Coverage,
Propaganda, Newspapers

Chapter 1
Introduction
The mass media constitute the backbone of democracy. The media are supplying the political
information that voters base their decisions on. They identify problems in our society and serve
as a medium for deliberation. They are also the watchdogs that we rely on for uncovering errors
and wrongdoings by those who have power. It is therefore reasonable to require that the media
perform to certain standards with respect to these functions, and our democratic society rests on
the assumption that they do (Venturelli, 1998).
Democracy promotion today is only one aspect of a much broader international agenda to
support “good governance”, one which often assumes that “all good things go together”, in
particular that today’s democratic transitions are being built on the foundations of coherent,
functioning states and that state building and democracy are one and the same. This is far from
being a reality in many developing countries (Rakner et al., 2007).
Media critics claim that commercial mass media controlled by a few multinational
conglomerates have become an antidemocratic force supporting the status quo (Herman and
McChesney 1997). In the absence of serious debate, voters are left with paid political
propaganda containing only meaningless slogans making them disinterested and cynical about
politics (Barnett, 2002).
Different countries have chosen different approaches, often depending on the media
situation, the constitutional system, the political circumstances and the legal traditions (Lange,
1999, p.58). Elections are an important feature of the modern democratic political systems and
highlight the basic characteristics of political structuring and government formation of a
particular country (Shively, 2003). Elections act as a bridge between political elites and common

people, between polity and society, between individuals and state. Moreover, an election acts as
an agent of political participation and political socialization (Palmer, 1975: 1).
Howard (2004) the media is usually the most important way people find out about the
elections and the political choices. The media need to be free to report fairly on the campaigns of
all the political parties so people can determine if there are differences between them. The media
need to provide all the people with the same information on how to vote. And the media need to
freedom to ask the questions and get answers about the transparency of the election, and to tell
voters if there is something wrong so that it can be fixed .The most important role of the media in
an election campaign is to allow voters to be well-informed about their choices. Another role is
to observe whether the election is free and fair. A third role for the media is to report on the
strategies the parties are using to try to win votes. Voters deserve to know if a party is making
different promises to different people. Voters need to know about party leaders but also party

policy and the party’s past record (pp.8-16).
The media play a vital role in the struggle for shaping the public agenda during the
campaign period (Walgrave and Aelst, 2004). According to McCombs (2002), the news media
have an enormous power in affecting the public through the nation’s agenda which they set.
Some significant public issues are focused on by the media to grab public attention. It is often
argue that the media some times are more participants than political and election campaign
processes, wielding tremendous power in agenda setting, the selection and treatment of campaign
events, politicians and issues and even overt support of a political party (Bennet, 1996).

1.1 Background of Elections and Mass Media in Pakistan
Elections are integral to democracy. It is not possible to think of a democratic political
system without free, fair and transparent elections because the notion of the primacy of people
cannot materialize without providing them with a fair and free opportunity to elect their

representatives.
Pakistan had 9 general elections during 1970-2008. These were held in December 1970,
March 1977, February 1985, November 1988, November 1990, October 1993, February 1997,
October 2002 and February 2008. But the military establishment, especially the ISI and the MI
(to a lesser extent) interfered in the electoral process, especially when the elections were part of
the exercise to shift from direct military rule to a civilianized rule. The May 2013 election
symbolizes democratic continuity from one civilian government to new election, leading to the
setting up of another elected civilian government. It is a positive development and a sign of hope
in Pakistan's troubled political history. As we approach May 11, 2013, it is self evident that the
2013 election is quite different from all the nine which preceded it. It is in this sense that we are
titling the story of this election as, the First under Rule of Law (PILDAT Report, 2013; pp.12-
40).
In 1947, Pakistan inherited a weak press with very little law for controlling
and regulating the press. Very few news presses were published in the newly born Pakistan. At
that time, the main stream newspapers were Daily Azad and morning news (shifted to
Dhaka), Dawn and Anjam. English presses were not so healthy at the time of independence due
to educational under development. Not a single daily newspaper could be published from the
area of East Pakistan from 1947 till 1971. At the time of independence, there were only

three radio stations in Lahore, Peshawar and Dhaka in Pakistan. Radio Pakistan Lahore
broadcasted the news of independence Pakistan on August 14, 1947. Pakistan Broadcasting
Corporation was established in December 1972. It has board of directors consisting of a
chairman, a director general and six directors.
In 1964, the first TV channel emerged in Pakistan which was pro-government but the free
electronic media in Pakistan was initiated by a Dictator General Musharraf, through he has his
own interests to present himself as a democrat President before the West. Growth of Satellite
system facilitated it technical side. President Musharraf to project enlightened modernization and
democratic image. Multinational advertisements provided huge income to make the business

viable (Naseer et al., 2010).
1.2 Mass Media and Voting Behavior in Pakistan
Electoral campaign is seen as an organized activity that arouses popular interest in
elections and stimulates citizens to vote. Electoral campaign experts suggest a number of
different factors that are important for designing electoral campaigns such as political ideology,
manifesto, party leadership, political workers and campaign staff (Ranney, 1993). Some of the
factors that can vary from context to context are contemporary issues of that society, laws in
practice, available resources, and dynamics of localities where the campaign is to be launched
(Holman and Zainulbhai, 2009). Besides this various sources and techniques are used to
communicate with the masses e.g. print and electronic media, loud speaker cars, rallies,
processions, corner meetings, door to door campaign, mailing and informal discussions. Party
message and manifesto can be spread by distributing leaflets, pamphlets, newsletters,
newspapers, advertisements, using banners, posters and floats, installing billboards and
hoardings (Bike, 2012; Ranney, 1993).

In modern political campaign, an important ingredient is the manifesto or message of a
political party representing their ideology and talking points about policy issues (Askari, 2002
and Friedenberg, 2008). Political party manifesto is seen as a primary document through which
political parties characterize themselves and their differences with other political parties in a
political system (Smith and Smith, 2000:458). In this research, more than a few respondents
acknowledged the importance of manifesto for upcoming general elections in Pakistan. They
considered it as a backbone for the success of campaign and a chief source of conveying the
message of a party to public (Askari, 2002). An overwhelming majority of the respondents
considered that the caste system will largely affect the electoral campaign in rural areas, where
caste and biradari (kinship) loyalty is seen as one of the most decisive factors determining voting

behavior of the villagers (Ahmed, 2007).
1.3 Mass Media Coverage of the Election
Candidates launch campaigns and use variety of techniques to convince voters (Bike,
2012; Paquette, 2006). The majority of respondents preferred to use “door to door” campaigning
and establishing personal contact with public in upcoming general elections 2013 in Pakistan.
These two were the main techniques highlighted by the respondents (Askari, 2002; Shaheen,
2004). Other techniques mentioned by them were corner meetings, addressing through
processions and rallies; displaying posters, banners; distributing brochures, pamphlets;
advertising through media, cable and internet; use of mobile messaging and motivating party
workers (Bike, 2012).
According to a press Release published by Mishal (2013) As the Election Commission of
Pakistan announced the final list of the candidates for the May 11 vote, broadcasters, publishers
and editorial executives across all platforms of media highlighted an unprecedented agreement

on media guidelines that aims to ensure fair reporting of the election and to avoid all forms of

hate speech and incitement to violence.
The Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting speaking at the meeting of the
media and support groups in Islamabad, “Forum on Media Guidelines for 2013 Election” said
that the guidelines were essential to ensure a truly democratic vote.
He also said that all journalists and media must be able to report freely without any threat to their
security and safety. “Media play a pivotal role in a democratic transition,” he said, “steps should
be taken to ensure that they are able to report freely without any threats.”
Jamil (April 28, 2013) This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that elections are being
held after the assemblies and elected governments have completed their five-year term.
Moreover, the neutral caretaker governments are in place as per provisions of the Constitution
duly amended by the previous National Assembly. Yet there is added significance this time
round – judiciary and media are independent today.
1.4 Election 2013 in Pakistan
In Pakistan, general elections i.e. elections for national and provincial assemblies, were
held under “Election Commission of Pakistan”, an independent and autonomous body, in charge
to conduct free and fair elections. Election Commission of Pakistan conducts elections in the
presence of interim or care taker government (Election Commission of Pakistan, 2012). Rabbani
(1999) highlights how Pakistani nation’s attitude and modes of behavior also negatively affect
electoral politics; lack of education and awareness of civic virtues are additional factors. He
further states how political institutions, military, bureaucracy, religious parties, and judiciary
have disregarded the democratic norms encouraging autocratic trends in political and
administrative systems.

The 10th general elections held in Pakistan on 11 May 2013 for electing the members of
the 14th National Assembly and to the four provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan
and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Elections were held in all four provinces, the federal capital territory
of Islamabad and in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The remaining two territories of
Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltastan, constituting Pakistani Kashmir, were ineligible to vote due
to their disputed status. The elections are noted for the first civilian transfer of power following
the successful completion of a five-year term by a democratically elected government. The
election took place in 272 constituencies, whilst a further 70 seats were awarded to parties
having been reserved for women and minority groups. One of the parties achieved the 172 seats
needed for an overall majority. The Pakistan Muslim League (N) led by Nawaz Sharif, won the
largest number of votes and seats but still fell six seats short. This resulted in a hung
parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the National Assembly. By 19
May, it was announced that Sharif had successfully formed a coalition by bringing on-board
nineteen independent candidates who had won seats in their respective constituencies, thirteen
more than the minimum required to form a coalition. This paved the way for Nawaz Sharif to
become the 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan (Net, 2013).The Election Commission of Pakistan
(ECP) announced that overall voter turnout in the 2013 general elections was recorded at
55.02%, a much higher percentage than elections since the 80s.

1.5 Newspaper Coverage of Elections
Candidates launch campaigns and use variety of techniques to convince voters (Bike,
2012; Paquette, 2006). The majority of respondents preferred to use “door to door” campaigning
and establishing personal contact with public in upcoming general elections 2013 in Pakistan.
These two were the main techniques highlighted by the respondents (Askari, 2002; Shaheen,

2004). Other techniques mentioned by them were corner meetings, addressing through
processions and rallies; displaying posters, banners; distributing brochures, pamphlets;
advertising through media, cable and internet; use of mobile messaging and motivating party

workers (Bike, 2012; Paquette, 2006).
Media set number of agendas during election campaigns for changing the minds of
voters for casting their votes to a specific political party. This study explores that how Pakistani
print media work during election campaign. How print media treat and cover the news towards
political parties and how much advertisements were published by a specific newspaper to a
specific political party. This study examines the relationship of advertisements and news
coverage of main stream political parties during the 10th general election campaign in Pakistan
from March 15, 2013 to May 10, 2013. Which political party gets more space and which
newspaper treat more favorable towards a political party than of other mainstream newspaper on
front and back pages.
1.6 Rationale of the Study
The main aim of this study is to find out how much news and advertisements coverage
was given to different mainstream political parties during election 2013 on front and back pages
of Daily Jang and Daily Express during election campaign of 2013. This study also check the
treatment of news in both newspapers that are both newspapers treat the news of political parties
with significant difference during election campaign and which particular political party got
more space during election 2013? In this study we examine that newspapers give more space for
news to that political party who get more space for their paid political advertisement in their
newspapers during election campaign, the news of a particular political party whose

advertisements are published maximum as compared to the others, are treated more positively,
greater in length and get more space on front pages of the newspapers.
The aim of selecting National Urdu Dailies like Daily Jang and Daily Express is that
both national dailies have record circulation respectively, having many conglomerates in
Pakistan and across the world and maximum population of Pakistan can understand the language
of both newspapers because of their national language. That is why, majority of the population of
Pakistan read Urdu newspapers and during the election campaign, political parties try to publish
more advertisements in National Urdu dailies for getting more advantage of maximum
readerships and exploiting the ignorance of the voters by setting different agendas.

1.7 Objectives
1. To examine the news and advertisements coverage given to the political parties in Daily
Jang, and Daily Express.
2. To examine the frequency of news and advertisements for each political party.
3. To access the space of news and advertisements given to each political party.
4. To analyze the treatment given to the political parties news.
5. To analyze at which place of newspaper more news and advertisements were published
for a particular political party.
6. To examine the relationship of advertisements on the coverage of political parties.
7. To analyze which newspaper publish more news and advertisements of a particular
political party than of other newspaper.
8. To analyze the space of advertisements which were published to a particular political
party

1.8 Research Questions
RQ1. How much news and advertisements coverage was given to the different mainstream
political parties during election 2013 in Daily Jang?
RQ2. How much news and advertisements coverage was given to the different mainstream
political parties during election 2013 in Daily Express?
RQ3. What the difference between the news and advertisements coverage given by the Daily
Jang and Daily Express to the different during election 2013?
RQ4. What is the relationship between published advertisements of particular political party and
its news coverage?
RQ5. Whether both newspapers giving more space to a particular political party on their front
page whose advertisements are more publishing?
RQ6. Which political party gets most of the favorable news coverage in both newspapers?
RQ7. Do both newspapers giving the most of their coverage to any specific/particular party?

Chapter 2
Literature Review
Brandenburg and Edmond (2011) conducted a research on Pressed in to Party Support?
Media Influence on Partisan Attitudes during the 2005 UK General Election Campaign. In their
research, they reassessed that the ability of the mass media to influence voter opinions directly. It
was examined that how undecided voters evaluate the incumbent government party, even when
controlling for a newspaper’s average partisan slant. They quantified the newspaper reporting of
the 2005 campaign by means of a content analysis. The data describe the tone of reporting on
party and party leaders in editorials and articles on the opinion pages of seven national daily
newspapers (Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Sun and The
Times). All weekday (Monday-Saturday) issues published after the dissolution of parliament on
5 April up until election’s day on 5 May were included.
They found that newspapers attract a certain readership and may well aim to publish
opinions that can be expected to resonate with that readership. They found clear effects of the
stances a paper takes towards each of the main parties. Even more pertinently, it emerged that a
newspaper’s treatment of a party affects not only how readers evaluate that party but also how
they rate its competitors. In this way, each party benefits more from criticism of its opponent
than from direct support. Findings suggested, such divergent treatment of parties has a
reinforcing and potentially mobilizing effect by strengthening pre-existing attitudes. They found
undecided voters to be sensitive enough to such variation that it makes a substantial contribution
to the kind of attitude change that could bring about their ultimate vote choice. However, this

study will examined that which political party gets more frequency, space and more positive
news and advertisements coverage in their front and back pages of two elite national dailies
during election campaign. In this study, there will also be examined the relationship of political
paid advertisements and news stories which were published during election campaign of 2013 in

Pakistan.
Raknes (2007) studied a research on A Comparative Analysis of Election Campaign
Practices in Norway and The U.S and examined the hypothesis of election campaign
convergence through a comparative survey of 77 Norwegian campaign workers and 134
American Political Consultants. The aim of this research was to test the hypothesis of increased
election campaign convergence through a comparative analysis of the election campaign
practices of Norwegian campaign workers and American political consultants. The survey
detected two diametrically opposed campaigning styles. It was discovered that Norwegian
election campaigns are media-driven, issue-oriented and party-controlled while American
elections are money-driven, advertising campaign finance laws and cultural differences all have
a tremendous influence in shaping divergent campaign environments. American elections are
also more personalized than Norwegian elections.
A majority of the American consultants agreed that the candidate’s image and personality
decided the election while the Norwegian campaign workers thought issues and image were of
equal importance in a campaign. Through this, the media system, the electoral system, campaign
finance laws and cultural differences all have a tremendous influence in shaping diverging
campaign practices. However, this study will examined that which political party gets more
frequency, space and more positive news and advertisements coverage in their front and back
pages of two elite national dailies during election campaign. In this study, there will also be

examined the relationship of political paid advertisements and news stories which were
published during election campaign of 2013 in Pakistan.
Holli and Hajo (2006) analyzed the news coverage of the 2004 European Parliamentary
(EP) elections in all 25 member states of the European Union (EU).The study provides
unprecedented insights into the first elections in the enlarged EU, includes three national
newspapers and the most widely watched main evening private and public television news in
each country in the final two weeks leading up to the elections. It found that the elections were
more visible in the new 10 member states than in the 15 old EU member states. The political
personalities and institutional actors featured in news stories about the elections were generally
national political actors and not EU actors. When it was evaluative, the news in the old EU-15
was generally negative towards the EU, while in the new countries a mixed pattern was found. In
terms of visibility and share of EU actors, the trend between 1999 and 2004 is one of increase.
The results for the new member states also give quite a positive outlook. Visibility, both of EU
news and EU actors, was relatively high. Furthermore, the tone towards the EU was considerably
more positive in the new member states. However, this research analyzes the comparison of front
and back page news and advertisements coverage of mainstream political parties in two national
Urdu dailies Daily Jang and Daily Express by using content analysis research technique. The
period of the study is selected from March 15, 2013 to May 10, 2013 as this was the peak time of
election campaign of the 10th general election in Pakistan.
Banducci and Stevens (2011) studied a research on News Media Coverage and
Information in Combined Elections. This report was specifically prepared for Electoral
Commission. They report the results of a 7 week media monitoring project of 41 national,
regional and local media outlets conducted by the Centre for Elections, Media, and Parties at the

University of Exeter. The report, based on data collected from over 50,000 news stories,
illustrates how the news media covered the Parliamentary Voting System (PVS) referendum, the
elections to the Scottish Parliament, the National Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland and
the local elections in England. They find that the news information varied by the context of
voting choices being faced by voters. Voters in locations with concurrent national elections were
likely to be exposed to less information about the PVS referendum than in other locations-in
Scotland; for example, the five newspapers they analyzed carried 141 stories between them, an
average of about 30 stories each, whereas the Evening Standard had more than 50 stories on the
referendum. With concurrent local elections the differences in coverage were small. In those
locations without combined elections, news information ran in favor of the PVS referendum.
However, this research analyzes the comparison of front and back page news and advertisements
coverage of mainstream political parties in two national Urdu dailies Daily Jang and Daily
Express by using content analysis research technique. The period of the study is selected from
March 15, 2013 to May 10, 2013 as this was the peak time of election campaign of the 10th

general election in Pakistan.
Stromback and Dimitrova (2006) studied, A Comparison of Election News Coverage in
Sweden and the United States. They compared the news coverage of election campaigns in three
Swedish newspapers at the time of the 2002 national election and three U.S. newspapers at the
time of the 2004 presidential election by using the methodology of content analysis in their
research. The purpose of this study was to compare the framing of politics in election news
coverage in the United States and Sweden. The findings had shown significant differences. They
found that “game was the name of the frame” in the U.S. articles, suggesting that U.S. citizens
were exposed to highly fractured and episodic coverage. This is evident in the comparatively

high frequencies of the politics as a game meta-frame, horse-race frame, and political strategy
frame in U.S. election news coverage. The Swedish coverage was more issue-oriented, providing
more interpretive reporting on election issues. They found that U.S. newspapers were more
dependent upon material from the campaigns than their Swedish counterparts. The results
indicated that the framing of politics seemed to be informed by the political system, media
system, journalistic norms and values, and strength and character of the party system. However,
this study will examined that which political party gets more frequency, space and more positive
news and advertisements coverage in their front and back pages of two elite National dailies
during election campaign by using content analysis research technique. In this study, there will
also be examined the relationship of political paid advertisements and news stories which were
published during election campaign in Pakistan.
Li and Mun (2011) conducted a research on “Vote for me!” A Content Analysis of News
Reports Leading to the 12th General Election Political Communication. The political tsunami that
occurred on 8 March 2008 sent shock waves throughout Malaysia. The study looks into how the
politicians from all parties used the media to convey messages across to the media consumers in
order to influence the public to vote for them and consider the issues that were raised by the
politicians and picked up by the media. The investigation of the present study is undertaken
using the theoretical framework of Agenda Setting. A quantitative analysis using Content
Analysis is proposed to examine the issues that were brought up by the politicians and picked up
by the Malaysian daily, The Star, as reflected in the news reports on the days leading to the
general election. The analysis show that there is a presence of agenda setting in the news
reporting on the issues raised by politicians on the days leading to the 12th general election. The
greatest coverage given to Barisan National was responded in a negative relationship, which

showed a reversal effect on its readers, who swung their votes to the opposition party. However,
this study will examine the relationship of political paid advertisements with news coverage
which is given to different main stream political partied during election campaign by using

content analysis research technique.
Amponsah (2012) examined The Daily Graphic coverage of presidential campaigns in
Ghana, 1992-2004. The researcher examines the coverage of general presidential campaigns by
the Daily Graphic (a Ghanaian newspaper) concerning the National Democratic Congress (NDC)
and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) from 1992-2004. Content analysis revealed that advocacy is
the most common topic of the campaign coverage. Discussion of candidates’ policy positions
receives more mention than discussion of their character. Positive statements (acclaims) are the
most common function in the news stories, followed by negative comments (attacks), and then
defenses. Candidates represent the most common sources for the statements in the articles,
followed by reporters, supporters, and others. Implications of these results on Ghana as an
emerging democratic country are discussed. The study adds to the theoretical framework for
examining topics, tone, and source of news coverage of the campaigns and contributes to the
framework for investigating the various types of advocacy coverage. The findings in the study
consist of content analysis limited to four campaigns in the Fourth Republic of Ghana. The
analysis of the Ghanaian newspaper coverage has revealed some differences and similarities with
respect to the political discourse of the United States’ presidential campaigns.
Researcher examined that predominantly positive tone of the campaign coverage could
be favorable to democracy. This positive tone manifests the minimal reporting of attacks and
scandal in the campaign coverage. Such positive news coverage of presidential campaigns could
benefit the Ghanaian emerging democracy since that promotes candidates and their messages,

and encourages voter turnout. The positive tone is in line with utterances of chiefs and religious
leaders, which might have shaped citizens’ concern for peaceful elections. As a result, candidates
adjusted the tone of their comments in order to appeal to the electorate. However, this study will
examined that which political party gets more frequency, space and more positive news and
advertisements coverage in their front and back pages of two elite national dailies during election
campaign. In this study, there will also be examined the relationship of political paid
advertisements and news stories which were published during election campaign of 2013 in

Pakistan.
Yusof (2009) conducted a research on Election and Ethnicity: A Comparative Analysis of
Local Language Dailies and the Prevalence of Ethnic-Based Discourses during the 2008
Malaysian General Election. The researcher studied the progress or changes in the post-election
reporting style and how the print mainstream media reacted during the 12th General Election.
The study looks at selected post-election headline news stories published in the English
mainstream daily New Straits Times and the Malay mainstream daily Utusan Malaysia (and their
week-end editions New Sunday Times and Mingguan Malaysia) as case studies to explore how
the rhetoric of ethnicity is an active undercurrent in any reading of the Malaysian mainstream
media. It was studied that there was very little display of objectivity in the headlines from both
mainstream dailies. The rhetoric of ethnicity is more prevalent in Utusan Malaysia and supports
the hypothesis that a local language daily has more potential of being entrenched in ethnic-based
discourses as compared to English dailies which have the potential of readership from non-
Malays and non-Malaysians.
The negative portrayal of the Opposition was not unexpected as the mainstream press’
ownerships and control was testament to the news angles selected. The intrinsic link between the

economics of the media as business and political control by the ruling government through the
Acts that veered news angles in favor of the hegemony was even more apparent during the
general election when the battle for winning the public’s consensus was paramount. It was
examined there that the mainstream press quite possibly lost its credibility. However, this study
will examine the relationship of political paid advertisements with news coverage which is given
to different main stream political partied during election campaign by using content analysis

research technique.
Elmasry (2012) conducted a Comparative Content Analysis of Independent, Government
and Opposition Newspapers in pre-Revolution Egypt. The researcher examines Egyptian
newspaper output during an important period relatively late in the Hosni Mubarak era.
Specifically, the study analyses the official Al-Ahram, the independent Al-Masry al-Yom and the
opposition Al-Wafd. The coding scheme addressed the three newspapers’ choice of news topics,
framing of the government and political opposition, and treatment of average Egyptian citizens,
among other things. The analysis revealed some similarities, but many differences in the
products delivered by the three newspapers. All three papers made regular, frequent mention of
the Egyptian government and focused many stories on official concerns and perspectives.
However, the government-owned Al-Ahram’s reportage often spoke favorably of the
government, quoted and paraphrased government sources, and photographed (former) President
Mubarak, while omitting news about political opposition groups, crimes and problems in Egypt.
The absence of these topics suggests that Al-Ahram contributed to the Mubarak government’s
objective of projecting a stable, secure national image. In contrast, coverage of the Egyptian
government by the independent Al-Masry, Al-Yom and the party-owned Al-Wafd was more
balanced, incorporating both positive and negative news and presenting government issues and

actors in a more neutral tone. However, this study will examine the relationship of political paid
advertisements with news coverage which is given to different main stream political partied
during election campaign by using content analysis research technique.
Bilska (2012) examined the impact of European Union (EU) news coverage and of media
exposure on voter turnout in the 2009 European Parliament elections in the 27 EU member
states. Using multilevel modeling, it was analyzed that media content data and voter survey data
from the PIREDEU project and built the hypotheses on media coverage, media exposure, voter
turnout, and the second-order elections theory. The study matched data on the visibility of EU
news in countries’ media outlets with voters’ usage of these outlets. This allowed for
examination of the effects of exposure to individual outlets on voters participation in the
European elections. The study discussed that people exposed to media in which the EU news
coverage was highly visible and more likely to vote in the European election.
This study offers a different point of view on predicting voter turnout in the 2009 EP
elections. Not only has it utilized traditionally used predictors of voter turnout. The study also
leads advertisements to a previously discussed conclusion that the EP elections are truly second-order
national elections and they do not attract much attention from political parties, candidates,
media or citizens. Political parties and candidates across the EU fail to initiate vigorous
campaign and do not give the European election much importance on their agendas. The media
then fail to report on the EP elections. Consequently, citizens in the EU receive little information
about the EP election and about the EU in general, and they do not find any reason to vote in the
EP election. However, this study will examine how print media played a role in news portraying
of different main stream political parties during election campaign. This study will examine how

print media played a role in news portraying of different main stream political parties during

election campaign.
Nwokeafor and Okunoye (2013) conducted a research on Media Power in Elections:
Evidence of the Role of Agenda-Setting Theory in Political Communication in Nigeria Evolving
Democracy. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the impact of media during elections and
providing evidence as to the role agenda setting effect played in political communication in
Nigerian evolving democracy. In addition, the paper provided a comparative analysis of the
agenda setting influence between the Nigerian electronic media systems: Radio Nigeria and NTA
broadcast stations and three Nigerian Newspapers: The Sun, The Guardian and This Day. This
study adopted the use of survey method in the process of eliciting responses from Nigerian
immigrant residents in the Washington Metropolitan Area.
It was evident from the data collected during and after the election results were published
that the Nigerian media most importantly the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) utilized its
power of getting to a mass audience within a limited time period to influence the audience
members by not only telling them of what news item or issue is important than the other but also
how to measure the candidates based on their leadership ability and who will take the nation to
its dynamic state. It was studied that Nigerian media did a tremendous job of reporting the
election outcome to the nation and international community. The transparent way by which the
election results were handled was also reported by the media which took advantage of the
opportunity of a new election strategy to showcase how powerful the media has always been.
However, this study will examined that which political party gets more frequency, space and
more positive news and advertisements coverage in their front and back pages of two elite
national dailies during election campaign. In this study, there will also be examined the

relationship of political paid advertisements and news stories which were published during

election campaign of 2013 in Pakistan.
Hartmann and Gordon (2012) examined Advertising Effects in Presidential Elections.
They used the 2000 and 2004 general elections to analyze the effect of market-level advertising
on county-level vote shares. They measured voting outcomes at the county level, which, in all
but a few cases, only include one media market. This research documented a strong positive
effect of advertising in the case of general elections for the U.S. president. Analysis indicated
that instrumental variables, fixed effects, and observable controls impact the estimate of the
advertising coefficient. Because the election setting minimizes any dynamic concerns and this
estimation strategy allows us to cleanly identify positive advertising effects, whereas causal
studies for branded goods often find no effect. Overall, findings illustrated that advertising is
capable of shifting the electoral votes of multiple states and consequently the outcome of an
election. However, this study attempts to provide a comparative analysis of two national
language newspapers Daily Jang and Daily Express that how both dailies cover the news and
advertisements of different main stream political parties with number of news and
advertisements frequency, space, placement and slant on front and back pages of both national
newspapers.
Ridout, Fowler and Branstetter (2012) conducted a research on the influence of online
political advertising in the form of digital videos posted on YouTube. The researchers focused
on the various campaigns for U.S. Senate in 2010, using data on the content of online
advertisements, television spots, survey data and coding of media coverage, They examined
several indirect measure of YouTube‘s influence on election outcomes. Findings indicated that
online advertising matters. First, when asked to describe a campaign ad, some people recall

online-only advertisements. Online video use is positively associated with ad recall at the
individual level, and how often advertisements are recalled in the aggregate depends on how
much exposure they had online. News media coverage of advertisements posted online, however,
is dwarfed by the coverage of television advertising.
Harris, Kolovos and Lock (2001) conducted a study to explore the relationship of public,
media and political parties respectively. They analyze contact of six newspapers for 40 days,
coverage during Greek European Election 1999. Researchers found that there was very rare
match between public agenda and press co-relation between public and political parties. A
political party “New Democracy” won elections which have lowest co-relation with priorities of
public agenda. This previous study only analyzed overall press agenda. However, this study will
examine how print media played a role in news portraying of different main stream political
parties during election campaign. Valenzuela and Correa (2007) conducted a study to examine
the differences in news coverage of Chile’s first female president Michelle Bachelet and her
male contenders in the 2005 elections, and the impact of these differences on voters’ perceptions.
Using a content analysis of three Chilean newspapers, a secondary analysis of a public opinion
survey and agenda setting as a theoretical framework, the authors found striking differences in
press coverage and suggested that the press influenced the public’s images of the candidates. For
instance, compared to her male rivals, Bachelet received an overwhelmingly negative coverage
of her qualification and leadership skills. However, journalists portrayed her as the likely winner
of the election in 88 percent of the news stories about the horse race. This previous study
analyzed the differences in news coverage of Chile’s first female president Michelle Bachelet
and her male contenders in the 2005 elections, and the impact of these differences on voters’
perceptions by using content analysis methods. However, this study will examined that which

political party gets more frequency, space and more positive news coverage in their front and
back pages of two elite National dailies during election campaign. In this study, there will also be
examined the relationship of political paid advertisements and news stories which were
published during election campaign in Pakistan.
Goldstein and Ridout (2004) conducted a research on “The Effects of Televised Political
Advertising in The United States”. In this study, they examine that televised political advertising
is the main way that modern campaigns communicate with voters and over the past decade,
political scientists have made great progress in the study of its effects. But much of that progress
has come in the area of advertising’s indirect effects: its impact on learning and the effect of its
tone on voter turnout. Scholars still have a long road to travel before being able to speak
definitively about whether and to what extent political advertisements are successful in achieving

the goal of their sponsors: winning elections.
They found that if an advertisement aired three months before Election Day may have a
different impact than an ad aired the day before the election. One possibility is that people have
little incentive to pay attention to the campaign so many months before they must vote, and even
if they do pay enough attention to receive an early message, they are likely to have forgotten it
three months later. On the other hand, an ad aired early may have a greater impact because
partisan attachments are not yet activated. Despite these possibilities, almost all empirical
research treats all advertisements, regardless of when they aired, equally. However, this study
will examine the relationship of political advertisements and their press coverage during
election’s campaign.
Ugarte (2004) explores the effects of political advertisement and media coverage on
preferences during the presidential campaign in Mexico in 2000 using both individual and

aggregate data. The intensity of the advertisement campaign is measured in gross rating points.
The media coverage is taken from the monitoring of newscasts of the two national channels of
the two major networks. This research shows that media effects can be identified in the
presidential campaign of Mexico in 2000, but much variance in preference remains unexplained
by these media effects alone. It seems that communication effects occur only through a learning
process by which information ends up having an effect in the long run. It is studied that political
communication is a unified process where advertisements and news presence act together, and
they multiply the diminishing returns effect of communication. This previous study was
conducted with survey research. However, this research will examine the relationship of political
advertisements with news coverage of different main stream political parties during election’s
campaign of 2013 in Pakistan by using the content analysis research technique.
Kaid et. al, (2008) conducted a research on “The Effects of Political Advertising on
Young Voters”. They examined in this research that Political advertising effect on
candidate evaluations, issue recall, political cynicism and gender differences are
explored in this pretest–posttest examination of 764 young adult participants. On arrival at the
various experiment locations, participants were asked to fill out a pretest questionnaire. After
finishing the questionnaire, students were shown a collection of 10 political television
advertisements (5 advertisements sponsored by George Bush and 5 by John Kerry, alternated by
candidate). These advertisements were typical of those running in the campaign during the past
few weeks. Exposure to this ad stimulus was followed by asking participants to fill out a posttest
questionnaire. Results show no major gender differences in evaluation of candidates. Participants
reported learning more about Bush’s image and more about Kerry’s issues through the
advertisements. Exposure to advertisements did not produce increased cynicism among the

participants but significantly increased political information efficacy. However, this study will
examine the relationship of political paid advertisements with news coverage which is given to
different main stream political partied during election campaign by using content analysis

research technique.
2.1 Hypothesis
H1. Newspapers give more space for news to that political party who get more space for their
paid political advertisement in their newspapers
H2. Newspapers give more favorable news treatment to that political party who get more space
for their paid political advertisement in their newspapers
H3. Both the newspapers treat the news of political parties with significant difference during
election campaign.
H4. Both newspapers published more news to a particular political party differently.

Chapter 3
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework provides the base for doing research. In this respective,
following theories have been used by the researcher to conduct the study.
3.1 Agenda Setting Theory
Agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media the ability to tell us what
issues are important. As far back as 1922, the newspaper columnist Walter Lippmann was
concerned that the media had the power to present images to the public. McCombs and Shaw
investigated presidential campaigns in 1968, 1972 and 1976. In the research done in 1968 they
focused on two elements: awareness and information. Investigating the agenda-setting function
of the mass media, they attempted to assess the relationship between what voters in one
community said were important issues and the actual content of the media messages used during
the campaign. McCombs and Shaw concluded that the mass media exerted a significant
influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign.
Media organizations do not just passively broadcast information repeating the words of
the official sources or conveying exactly the incidents of an event. They also do not select or
reject the day's news in proportion to reality. Through their selection and display of the news
stories, the reporters and the editors focus their attention and influence the public's perceptions of
what are the most important issues of the day. Our pictures of the world are shaped and refined
in the way journalists frame their news stories. This function of media is called the agenda-setting
function of media (McCombs 2002).

Agenda setting is one of the major theories of all times. The theory emerged from the
idea that the mass media reflects the items and issues in their news agenda according to their
prominence and then this prominence goes in the hands of public agendas. At a more explanatory
level, there are basically three agendas that are served by media; media agenda, public agenda
and policy agenda. The media owners deal with the media agenda that focus on analyzing media
contents such as newspapers, Television, radio or the new media. The publics define the public
agenda through survey or discussions whereas the policy makers of certain organizations

determine the policy agenda.
The effects of agenda setting can be best understood by the statement of Bernard Cohen
(1963) Who said, “The press may not be successful in telling its readers what to think, but it is
stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about” (Cohen B. , 1963). So it can be
judged that it is the agenda of the press that tempts its readers to make perceptions about an issue
in the context of the stories portray by press. The press not only exactly transmits the messages
but the selection of messages, items or stories on the part of press is quite important. So the
perceptions of the audience are shaped by the media and the audience is focused to consider the
order of the importance of issues that is presented by the media.
In his book,” Public Opinion”, Lippmann (1922) wrote the first chapter entitled, “the
World Outside the pictures in our advertisements” (Lippmann, Public Opinion, 1922). Lippmann
theorized that the mass media creates pictures in our minds about the world. These pictures
provided by the media are neither complete nor clear. The reality is only reflected in the media
which is not the actual or exact reality (Lippmann, Public Opinion, 1922).

The idea of Lippmann that the news media influence our perceptions was empirically
tested by two researchers Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw (1972). During the Presidential
elections of USA (1968), both researchers conducted the first test of Lippmann’s theory in the
Chapel Hill, North Carolina (McCombs Shaw, 1972). It was a generalized fact at that times
that media has limited effects on the public. McCombs and Shaw (1972) tested that the mass
media daily select and display news in its bulletin and in turn influences the perception of the
audience about those issues. They believed that the issued that were prioritized by the news
media were in turn prioritized by the general public. They conducted open ended survey
questions and then compared their responses with a content analysis that was conducted on nine
major news sources utilized by the voters of that area.
The news sources were TV, radio, newspapers and news magazines. After open ended
survey, McCombs and Shaw (1972) found that there were five issues that were important for the
voters which were, “foreign policy, law and order, fiscal policy, civil rights and evaluation of the
news coverage across three weeks of the last Presidential Campaign” (McCombs Shaw, 1972).
It was found that there was a deep relationship between the public agenda and the media agenda.
This transfer of prominence from the media agenda to the public agenda was termed as agenda
setting theory of mass communication (McCombs Shaw, 1972). This study provides a
methodological base for agenda-setting research.
Iyengar Kinder (1987) tested the agenda setting theory in laboratory when they
conducted a series of experiment by viewing television news programs that highlighted special
issues. They found that the agenda setting effects were observed after watching a number of
newscasts. In this era of globalization, media are the most important and reliable source of
information. Various new forms and tools of media are utilized for gathering information. It is a

fact that selected material is presented and interpreted in one’s own interests. According to the
agenda setting theory, when attention is given to particular issues, they are more emphasized
while others are ignored. This results in the formation of public opinion that is based on the
assumptions of media. The reality is not accepted the way it actually is but is accepted the way it
actually is but is accepted the way media want us to accept.
McCombs (2004) observed that the agenda setting theory is quite compatible with other
social science theories including gate keeping, spiral of silence and the cultivation theory.
Agenda setting effects also vary on issue obtrusiveness and issue unobtrusiveness. Those issues
with which people deal in their everyday lives are obtrusive issues and those issues with which
people can not directly deal are called unobtrusive issues. The international issues fall under the
category of unobtrusive issues and it has greater effects on the formation of public opinion
through agenda setting (McCombs M., Setting the agenda: The mass media and public opinion,

2004).
Soroka (2003) studied the relationship of salience of foreign affairs for the public with
foreign affairs coverage. He found that foreign news which mentioned the U.S and U.K
respectively exerted greater influence on public opinion than the international news that did not
involved these countries. Wanta et, al. (2004) analyzed that the foreign news required more time
to impact as compared to the domestic news. The researchers concluded that those countries
were considered important to the U.S interests that received more coverage.
3.2 Framing
Hallahan (1999) “As a property of a message, a frame limits or defines the messages
meaning by shaping the influences that individuals make about the message. Frames reflect

judgments made by message creators or frames”. Concept of framing is another aspect of agenda
setting theory. Scheufele l David Tewksbury (2007) stated “framing is based on the
assumptions that how an issue is characterized in news reports can have an influence on how it is

understood by audiences.”
According to framing theory, media focus attention on certain issues and then place them
with in a specific field of meaning. Lippmann (1922) presented his theory which reflects the
concept of framing. He argued that the mass media create pictures of the world in our mind
which are incomplete. Entman (1993) analyzed framing as “scattered conceptualization” and
argued that the previous studies lacked clear conceptual definitions. McCombs, Shaw and
Weaver (1997) suggested that framing and agenda setting concepts are related and framing is in
fact an extension of agenda setting theory.
According to Herman and Chomsky, media frames play an important role in presenting,
shaping or destroying the picture of an event (Herman Chomsky, 2000). Entman (1993) points
out that frames can be identified as the absence or presence of keywords or source of
information, and he further suggests that frames usually mean stereotypes or schemes. With
regard to frames, he concludes the omissions of potential problems, explanations, definitions and
suggestions can be as critical as their inclusions in guiding the audience.
3.3 Relationship of Topic with Theories
The media play a vital role in the struggle for shaping the public agenda during the
campaign period (Walgrave and Aelst, 2004). According to McCombs (2002), the news media
have an enormous power in affecting the public through the nation’s agenda which they set.
Some significant public issues are focused on by the media to grab public attention. It is often

argue that the media some times are more participants than political and election campaign
processes, wielding tremendous power in agenda setting, the selection and treatment of campaign
events, politicians and issues and even overt support of a political party (McCombs Shaw,

1972).
This study explores difference between organizational behavior of two National
Urdu dailies and agenda setting in press of Pakistan. This study examines the difference between
the news coverage given by the Daily Jang and Daily Express to different mainstream political
parties during election 2013. This study examines the relationship of political paid
advertisements in their news coverage in both newspapers. This study also examines the total
frequency, slant, space and placement of news stories which are related to different political
parties and publishing during the election campaign era. So, agenda setting and framing theory
are very helpful in exploring the difference between Daily Jang and Daily Express.
The main purpose of this study is to find out the role of agenda setting in both National Urdu
Dailies Daily Jang and Daily Express during election campaign and exploring frames in press,
portraying of different political party news stories about elections 2013. Theory of agenda setting
and its aspect framing was the focal point of this research. The whole research revolves around
this theory. How the print media portray any issue and how the media set agendas of any issue
like election campaign? These questions are addressing in this study.
3.4 Propaganda Model
The propaganda model is basically a conceptual model in political economy put forward
by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman that states how propaganda, including systemic
biases, function in mass media. The model seeks to explain how populations are manipulated and
how consent for economic, social and political policies is manufactured in the public mind due

to this propaganda. The theory posits that the way in which news is structured through
advertising, media ownership or from government sourcing, creates an inherent conflict of
interest which acts as propaganda for undemocratic forces.
Media and Culture Studies (2006) In countries where power is served as state
bureaucracy and official censorship is involved in mass-media, there is no usage of this type of
models but in those countries where media are private and censorship is absent, media
aggressively portray themselves as spokesmen for free speech and in accordance of public
choices, this model is preferably acceptable. Propaganda Model portrays the inequality of wealth
and power and its effects on mass-media interests. The model traces the routes by which money
and power are able to filter out the news fit to print, allow the government and private interests to
get their messages across to the public. There are five filter of Propaganda Model which fall

under the following headings.
1: The size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media.
2: Advertising as the primary income source of mass media.
3: The reliance of the media on information provided by government, business, and experts
funded an approved by these primary sources and agents power.
4: “Flak” as a means of disciplining the media.
5: Anticommunism as a national religion and control mechanism.
The raw material of news pass through these filters, leaving only cleansed residue fit to print.
They fix premises of discourse and interpretation, and the definition of what is news worthy in

the first place, and they explain the basis and operations of what amount of propaganda

campaigns.
Relationship:
In countries where media is private and have freedom, media want to get profit from
those who are in power and through publishing advertisements. During election campaign, many
political parties publish their advertisements in newspapers for changing the minds of the votes.
At the other side media publish more news to that political party which is in power and spend
huge money for publishing advertisements in their media. Media rely on information provided by
government, business and experts funded and approved by theses primary sources and agents of
power. So, in election where both elements of wealth and power are utilized, media publish
objective news stories after filtration.

Chapter 4
Research Methodology
This chapter describes the method of research. It outlines the methodology which was
applied in this study. This research is primary type of research and content analysis methodology
has been applied according to the narrative nature of the study.
4.1 Content analysis
This study is basically a content analysis of the Pakistani newspapers. The investigation
of this study is undertaken by using content analysis. The reason for choosing the quantitative
approach is to produce more explicit data collection as well as to make it easier for the researcher
to aggregate, compare, and summarize data (Babbie, 2001). Content analysis is a systematic
research procedure to examine the content of recorded information, as defined by Walizer and
Wiener (1978, in Wimmer and Dominick, 2006). Such a quantitative instrumentation could assist
researchers in obtaining greater precision (Wimmer and Dominick, 2006). Moreover, content
analysis is an established approach for such a study. The study is primarily a content analysis
including qualitative and qualitative approaches. This study examined the slant, frame, length,
frequency and placement as variables in two Pakistani Urdu Dailies Daily Jang and Daily
Express. To measure these variables, the front and back pages stories of political parties and
advertisements were the contextual unit while headline and intro was the coding unit for
identifying the topic. The whole story of main stream political party on front and back pages was
identifying frames in the story as favorable, unfavorable or neutral.

Content of the two newspapers, Daily Jang and Daily Express was analyzed for this study
almost for two months (March 15, 2013 to May 10, 2013). The reason for the selection of these
Urdu newspapers is that The Daily Jang is the largest Urdu Newspaper in Pakistan. It is
published by the Jang Group of Newspapers. It is published in Urdu from Karachi, Lahore,
Rawalpindi, Quetta, Multan and London. Its daily circulation is of 800000 copies. The other
newspaper daily Express is also one of the most Pakistan’s widely circulated Urdu-language
newspaper and most quoted in Pakistani Media. It claims to have a 24% circulation share. The
biggest reason for selecting these newspapers is that both newspapers are in the national
language of Pakistan that more people can easily read these newspapers for understanding the
ongoing situations. Both newspapers have a strong professional reputation covering almost all
the important issues of the country as well as of the world. Exploiting the more readerships,
political parties try their best to publish more advertisements to that newspaper which have more
readerships especially during election’s campaign for making the minds of voters.

4.2 Universe
The study examines the front and back pages news and advertisements of two national
dailies Daily Jang and Daily Express from March 15, 2013 to May 10, 2013.
4.3 Sample of Study
The news and advertisements on front and back pages of two national newspapers Daily Jang
and Daily Express regarding election campaign during the period of March 15, 2013 to May 10,
2013 has been selected as the sample of the study.

4.4 Unit of Analysis
In this study, the units of analysis are all the news stories of eight selected main stream political
parties and advertisements of political parties regarding election campaign on front and back
pages of respective newspapers where the relation of advertisements with news stories will be
examined.
4.5 Variables
4.5.1 Independent Variables
In the present study newspapers are the independent variables which include:
a. Daily Jang
b. Daily Express
4.5.2 Dependent Variables
In this study, news coverage of different political parties and advertisements of political
parties which published during election campaign are the dependent variables, include all the
categories that are made for analysis.
4.6 Frequency
Number of news stories and advertisements of different main stream political parties
which published on each day from sample on front and back pages of both newspapers were
counted. More news stories and more advertisements of a particular political party on front and
back pages of both newspapers indicate that both newspapers are giving more importance to a
particular party than of others.

4.7 Length
The length of news stories and advertisements published during election’s campaign on
front and back pages of the newspaper was counted. The total length of news stories and
advertisements was measured in centimeter per column. In political paid advertisements the
Gutter length of 0.3 was included in per column length. The stories where only the pictures with
captions are published were also measured.
4.8 Placement
Placement of news stories and advertisements especially on front and back pages of
newspapers considers as an important factor of agenda setting in print media and having more
importance during election campaign. News stories which publish on front and back pages of
selected newspapers are measured as according to the placement in four categories. These
categories are divided as front page upper half, front page lower half, back page upper half and
back page lower half. For measuring of advertisements there are included two more categories
for measuring the placement of advertisements. These categories are full front page and full back
page because many political parties spend a huge money for publishing full pages advertisements
on front and back pages of newspapers for changing the behavior of voters during election’s
campaign. It was considered that newspapers publish more news, relating to political parties and
political paid advertisements on their front and back pages during election campaign. So, the
placement is measured that to which political party, the selected newspapers give more place in
their news stories and advertisements more significant on front page of the newspaper.

4.9 Slant with Operationalization
Slant was measured by analyzing the paragraphs of the news stories especially the usage of
language in headlines and sub-headlines of news stories published during elections campaign
were analyzed as favorable, unfavorable and neutral category. Coding unit of analysis is the
whole story which publishes on front and back page of the newspaper. According to the
categorization in this chapter, stories are separately coded in categories that were favorable,
unfavorable and neutral. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary favorable is something
“approving, helpful, promising and advantageous”. The news are considered as favorable in
which;
• Only the statement of the political party was given.
• Only highlight the party achievements, policies and manifestoes were included.
• No criticism was involved.
• No analysis was given.
• News which were about overcoming the corruption and promoting development.
• News where a political party member demands vote for change or development.
• News, where a party member criticizes the other parties.
• That news will be favorable where a political party tries to promote cultural traditions
after getting success in elections.
• That news will be considered as favorable where a national or international department
appreciates the previous projects of a particular political party.
• That type of news will be considered as positive where research reports given positive
results towards a particular political party.

Comparative analysis of press coverage of political parties news and advertisements coverage of national dailies regarding election 2013 in pakistan by abid zafar

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Comparative analysis of press coverage of political parties news and advertisements coverage of national dailies regarding election 2013 in pakistan by abid zafar