Coverage of the Arrest of Imran Khan and the Subsequent Political Unrest in Pakistan: A Thematic Analysis

Abstract

The research at hand is an attempt to explore and analyze the editorial coverage of the arrest of Imran Khan, former Prime Minister of Pakistan and Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and subsequent events in the Daily Times and daily The Nation. The arrest and subsequent protests along with the context of military establishment involvement made the incident highly significant for the media in Pakistan. However, given the political dynamics and historic political economy of the media in Pakistan, the newspapers opined on the incidents very carefully. We have employed thematic analysis as a theoretical and analytical tool to determine what kind of the editorial themes have been produced by the newspapers while commenting on the arrest and the subsequent political protests. Our findings show that both the newspapers produced editorial themes that not only criticized the violation of human rights by the authorities but also opposed the vandalism committed by the protestors.