INTERPRETING THE MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF TERRORISM IN DAILY NAWA-E-WAQT AFTER 9/11 (2001–2026): A QUALITATIVE INTERVIEW STUDY

Abstract

The study examines the changing narrative of Daily Nawa-e-Waqt during on terrorism in post 9/11 era from the interpretation of media scholars, researches, academics, journalists and other media experts. The study takes a qualitative and interpretive perspective and relies on expert interviews and analysis of the responses to the questions about the themes, framing, editorial orientation and link of the newspaper with the national-security and counterterrorism discourse in Pakistan. The theoretical elements used to interpret the construct of terror-related narratives and potential political, institutional, ideological and security context impact to prominence are those of Framing Theory and Herman and Chomsky's Propaganda Model. The research results reveal that the newspaper's narrative about terrorism went through four general stages: resist and ideology (2001-2007), transition to recognize terrorism as an internal threat (2008-2014), national consensus, and strengthening the state (2015-2020) after the Army Public School attack, and regional security and strategic (2021-2026). The five themes that emerged were: Criticism of U.S. foreign policy and the “imposed war,” changing portrayals of internal militancy, Western double standards and the structure of the Muslim Ummah, the difference between liberation movements and international terrorism, and the dynamics between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and external threats. Overall, the study concludes that shifts in the framing of the newspaper about terrorism were mostly based on Pakistan's political and security climate and not a shift in the ideological perspective of the newspaper. Accordingly, there is a sense of continuity in its coverage in terms of ideology and a pragmatic flexibility after the APS attack, which saw a greater focus on state security and counter terror, and then a focus on regional and strategic security concerns. The study makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of the development of terrorism discourse in the Urdu press of Pakistan and the relationship between media framing, ideology and national-security discourses.