US Presidential Elections 2020 and Media Framing: The Case of English Print Media in Pakistan

Abstract

The US presidential election in 2020 was a significant global event that attracted widespread attention and coverage, including in Pakistan. Pakistan has a keen interest in the political developments of the United States due to its historical ties, geopolitical considerations, and the impact of US policies on the region. The framing of news stories and events surrounding the US presidential election can have a profound impact on public opinion and the perception of political events This research tries to examine how three prominent Pakistani newspapers—Daily Dawn, Daily News International, and Daily Times—framed the US presidential election. These newspapers are renowned for their extensive coverage of national and international affairs and are likely to have provided significant coverage of the US election during the specified period. To conduct this study, data has been collected from September 2020 to November 2020 using Lexis Nexus, a comprehensive database that provides access to a wide range of news articles from various sources. This timeframe captures the pre-election period, the election campaign, and the aftermath, allowing for a comprehensive analysis of the framing of the US presidential election in the selected newspapers. By examining the framing techniques used in these newspapers, this study seeks to shed light on how the US election was portrayed to the Pakistani audience. The study shows that the selected three newspapers published 24.6% stories related to the conflict category. Most of the stories represented the United States as the friend of Pakistan (76.6%). Both the newspapers framed the United States as friend of Pakistan more as compared with a foe of Pakistan (2.4%) only.