Exploring Mode of Representation of Islam and Muslims through Print Media Discourses of Pakistan and in India

Abstract

Print media discourses function as reflections of societal realities within specific temporal and contextual boundaries. Frequently, they serve as distorting lenses through which a constructed version of reality is disseminated to the masses. This study derives its data from articles published in "Hindustan Times" and "Dawn Daily," focusing on representation of Islam and Muslims. Time for data collection ranges from January 2023 to September 2023. To analyze this data, an integrated (amended) framework has been employed which consists of Fairclough's (2003) model with Van Dijk’s (2006) research framework for analyzing data critically. The collected data related to the representation of Islam and Muslims has been analysed at word, sentence and discourse levels. The analysis of data from DAWN daily reveals that negative representation of Israel and India is very much there because of their hostile policies toward Muslims in these countries. Similarly, the analysis of the data from “Hindustan Times" reveals that Islam and Muslims have been represented negatively. Negative attributes such as terrorism, extremism and violence have been associated to Indian Muslims in particular and other Muslims in general. The study finds that war of words for positive self and negative representation of others is a going on both sides. Besides, the study contends that print media discourses are used for the investment of desired ideology about Us and Them.