Analyzing the May 09 Demonstrations in Pakistan and the Role of Press: A Thematic Analysis of Dawn and The Express Tribune

Abstract

On May 09, 2023, another former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was detained by law enforcement agencies from the premises of the Islamabad High Court. Mr. Khan was arrested on corruption charges on account of Al-Qadir Trust. The arrest didn’t sit well with the PTI supporters who initiated nationwide protests which turned into violent incidents. The media coverage and debates about the aftermaths of Mr. Khan’s arrest ranged from ‘peaceful protests’, to the ‘freedom of expression’, to the ‘political riots’, to the ‘violence’. Given the already polarized political atmosphere in the country, the media coverage of the incidents is divided into at least two clear dichotomies; protests and riots. This research paper is an attempt to explore how the daily Dawn and The Express Tribune have covered the incidents in their editorials right after the arrest of Mr Imran Khan. We have employed the thematic analysis, inductively, as a theoretical and methodological approach to unpack the editorial themes of the incidents. Our findings indicate that both the newspapers produced codes which construct the May 09 incidents in the aftermath of the arrest of Mr. Imran Khan as ‘protests’. And, the narrative of ‘riots’ to label the public agitation has not been given space into the editorials under study by the newspapers.