Portrayal of Violence against Women Rights in Pashtun and Punjab Community: A Comparative Analysis of Daily Express Peshawar and Lahore Edition

Abstract

The aim of this study was to find out the social construction of reality of media regarding women rights’ violation in Pashtuns and Punjabis communities in print media, for which Urdu daily Express was selected. The researchers collected data from the newspaper’s Peshawar and Lahore editions from January to March, 2015. For the data collection, the researchers used coding sheet which was devolved under the consideration of objective and research hypotheses. Data was collected through purposive sampling methodology. The results of the study explored that both the editions of the daily Express covered the issues of women rights’ violation. It also disclosed that Peshawar edition has given more coverage on the front, city and back pages to women rights violation than the Lahore edition. The results disclosed that the Lahore edition has not ethically covered news about women rights’ violation, while the Peshawar edition covered it more ethically. It is concluded that Peshawar-based journalists are following cultural values of Pashtun society, that is why the issue has been covered positively in the area.