Negative Projection: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Women’s Portrayal in Pakistani News Channel

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to highlight the news discourse about women’s depiction in Pakistani broadcast news. Women are still depicted in traditional roles in broadcast media. The research is qualitative in nature. Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of CDA was applied to effectively evaluate how women are portrayed in the news Representation of women in Pakistan was analyzed by collecting news items from the official news channel “Geo News”. Sampled news items were analyzed by identifying the lexical and grammatical choices, interpreting in the local context of Pakistani society, and then lastly checking the ideological position. The results show that women are portrayed as weak, lacking freedom of movement, and subjugated because of the patriarchal culture in society. This study highlights the pessimistic aspects, the future researchers can explore the bright side of women’s discourse by focusing on the achievements, rights, and honor gained by modern Pakistani women.