NEWS FRAMING OF CPEC DURING COVID-19: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LEADING PAKISTANI PRESS (2020-2021)

This research paper explores the news framing of CPEC - China Pakistan Economic Corridor after COVID-19 in the leading press of Pakistan. The following study employs ‘Framing Analysis’ by Goffman to investigate the representation of CPEC in the selected newspaper. This research analyses the news stories published on the front and back pages of the DAWN newspaper using different frames to study the coverage patterns about CPEC. The theory of framing was used which helped the researcher to study the stance of Pakistani leading press towards CPEC news framing during pandemic. Online news articles of the selected newspaper were analyzed from 1st January 2020 to 31 th December 2021. Content analysis of the news articles revealed that DAWN has been framing CPEC in the positive light since January 2020. The results of the study showed that DAWN’s stance is mostly favorable towards CPEC even after COVID-19 however some fears and concerns appeared regarding the completion of the project due to production delays and cost overrun. Findings also reveal that Pakistani leading press gives significance to CPEC and considers it as a promising project of future. Study recommends that policy making is required to minimize the unfavorable stance of press towards CPEC.