Media Images of Pakistan’s Hostility toward India: A Study of Four Newspapers during 2001–2002

Abstract

Hostility toward India remained perhaps the defining feature of Pakistan’s foreign policy. The underlying factors have been widely researched and debated. The present article seeks to explore the issue through the lens of a cross section of the Indian media—the newspaper press to be precise. The significance of the study derives from the assumption that media projection of policy-relevant issues largely shapes popular perceptions in a democracy and thereby exerts indirect influence on the policy-making exercise as well. The general objective has been broken down into two operative objectives: to identify the various explanations offered by the press for the anti-Indian component of Pakistan’s foreign policy and also to note if these perceptions/explanations remained stable over a period of time. To attain these goals, four English language dailies, namely, The Tribune, The Hindu, The Telegraph, and The Times of India, have been examined in terms of their editorials and opinion articles in relation to the Indo–Pak bilateral engagements during 2001–2002. It was revealed that the newspapers concentrated on a limited number of explanations for the antagonism between India and Pakistan—pinning the responsibility generally on Pakistan. Moreover, the emphasis they laid on respective explanations varied considerably during the time frame indicated above.