How Ethnicity and Elite Politics affect Media Discourse in Pakistan? A comparative study of Zainab and Farishta’s rape cases

Abstract

This paper compares the electronic media coverage of two similar rape cases in Pakistan and
examines how ethnicity and elite politics come into play to the detriment of the marginalized
ethnolinguistic groups. The study employs Discourse Analysis and analyzes the Prime-Time (9 p.m.)
headlines and bulletins of Pakistan’s eight mainstream TV channels over a period of six consecutive
days. The study hypothesized that in Pakistan, ethnicity and political exigencies contrive to give an
otherwise peripheral issue a big media whip but it is the former which plays the leading role. The
findings revealed that seven times more airtime was allotted to Zainab (ethnic Punjabi) than
Farishta (Pashtun). Zainab’s case was reported on all the six days while Farishta’s case was totally
ignored on the first day but was also not continuously reported on other days. To banalize
Farishta’s rape, some channels focused only on her ethnic otherness, stripping the case off its
humane and legal context. Other channels played the victim blame.