ABSTRACT

This book unpacks the media dynamics within the socio-cultural, political, and economic context of Pakistan. It provides an in-depth, critical, and scholarly discussion of contemporary issues such as media, state, and democracy in Pakistan; freedom of expression in Pakistani journalism; Balochistan as a blind spot in mainstream newspapers; media control by state institutions; women and media discourses; TV talk shows and coverage of Kashmir; feminist narrative and media images of Malala Yousufzai and Mukhtaran Mai; jihad on screen; and Osama bin Laden’s death on screen, to understand the relation between media and terrorism. The book covers diverse media types including TV, radio, newspapers, print media, films, documentary, stage performance, and social media.

Detailed, interdisciplinary, analytical, and with original perspectives from journalists as well as academics, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of media studies, Pakistan studies, politics and international affairs, military and terrorism studies, journalism and communication studies, and South Asian studies. It will also interest general readers, policy makers, and those interested in global journalism, mass media, and freedom of expression.

chapter 1|25 pages

Walking in circles

Democracy, state, and freedom of expression in Pakistan

chapter 2|13 pages

Journalism in the service of Jihad

chapter 3|22 pages

Jihad on screen

The role of jihadi drama and film and their press coverage, 1979–89, in Islamising Pakistan

chapter 4|22 pages

The politics of pity and the individual heroine syndrome

Mukhtaran Mai and Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan 1

chapter 5|16 pages

TV news as merchant of war hysteria

Framing the Kashmir conflict in India and Pakistan

chapter 7|18 pages

The cost of doing their job online

Harassment of women journalists

chapter 8|13 pages

Counter-terrorism perspective and the Pakistani TV channels

A case study of Osama bin Laden’s assassination

chapter 9|15 pages

The journey of Pakistan’s Oscar success

A Girl in the River: An insider’s account

chapter 10|14 pages

What freedom?

Reflections of a working journalist

chapter 11|13 pages

Covering the periphery

Balochistan as a blind spot in the mainstream newspapers of Pakistan

chapter 12|10 pages

Interviews with I. A. Rehman, Mehdi Hasan, and Eric Rahim

Freedom of expression and sham democracy