The Express Tribune

The Express Tribune is a partner of The International Herald Tribune which is the global edition of The New York Times. Other related media brands include:

Express News – Urdu News ChannelExpress 24/7 – English News Channel

For the purpose of this presentation, information is taken from Tribune.com.pk, which is the online publication for The Express Tribune.

Link: http://tribune.com.pk/

News stories without “US” or “Obama” in the title

Title: Pakistan Clarifies Stance on Bin Laden operation, warns against future ventures

Caption: “Pakistani foreign media secretary Salman Bashir listens to a question during a media briefing about the killing of Osama Bin Laden at the foreign ministry in Islamabad on May 5, 2011. PHOTO: AFP.”

Content Characteristics: fairly objective, slight government bias lead: “Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said on

Thursday that any country that again seeks to raid its territory would face consequences from Pakistan’s military.”

The Secretary is quoted as saying, “blame should be shared”

Sources: Express/Reuters, Bashir is quoted Audience Views/Public Opinion: the article bolds “Pak-US

mistrust” as a heading, emphasizes cooperation between the two countries leading to Bin Laden raid.

Title: JUI rally pays homage to ‘martyred’ Bin Laden

Caption: “Picture shows a wall bearing graffiti ‘Osama bin Laden Town’ near the hideout house of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. PHOTO: AFP.”

Content Characteristics: Objective, but only represents viewpoint of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) party Lead: “Scores of people took to the streets near Quetta on

Friday to pay “homage” to al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and call for war against America, witnesses said.”

“homage” in quotations seems to show that the author/Express do not share the same opinion as the al Qaeda supporters.

Anti-American sentiments are expressed as quotes from al Qaeda supporters

Sources: AFP Audience Views/Public Opinion: The article states that

“Pakistan on Thursday demanded that the US cut its troop presence in the country “to a minimum” as the fallout from the raid intensified and threatened to review cooperation in the event of another similar operation.” This statements reflects a viewpoint that the US over-stepped

its boundaries and power

Title: ‘Bin Laden commanded al Qaeda from hideout’

Caption: “This framegrab from an undated video released by the US Department of Defense on May 7, 2011, reportedly show Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden watching television at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. According to the Defense Department, the video was seized from the compound during a May 1 operation by US special forces in which bin Laden was killed. PHOTO: AFP”

Content Characteristics: Objective Lead: “Contrary to initial perception that Osama bin Laden

was dormant and inactive while in hiding, a senior US intelligence official on Saturday claimed that the al Qaeda chief was still closely involved in the terror group’s activities while in Pakistan.”

Sources: Wires, a senior US intelligence official Audience Views/Public Opinion

News stories with “US” or “Obama” in the title

Title: US prepared to replicate Bin Laden raid: Obama

Caption: “Obama indicates that US would conduct similar Abbottabad raid if another militant is found in Pakistan. PHOTO: AFP.”

Content Characteristics: Summarizes Obama interview but adds a sense of ‘warning’ in the article for Pakistan. lead: “Amid straining Pakistan-US relations, President

Barack Obama has said that he would order an operation similar to that which killed al Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden if another militant leader was found in Pakistan.”

The article is primarily summarizing the interview of President Obama with BBC.

The article is divided primarily in three sections: the first being the reasoning behind not disclosing raid details to Pakistan before, second being help from Pakistan to date in attacking militants, and third being focus on Afghanistan.

Sources: BBC, President Obama and the Afghan presidential spokesman Waheed Omar is quoted

Audience Views/Public Opinion: the article bolds really focused on what President Obama had to say about repeating a bin Laden raid on Pakistan soil.

Title: ‘We cannot stop another US raid: Magsi”

Caption: “Policeman stand guard outside the hideout house of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 5, 2011. PHOTO: AFP”

Content Characteristics: Gives the Balochi opinion on the obl raid and what lies ahead for Quetta Shura lead: “I have no idea whether or not the Quetta Shura

exists here, but if it does, then nobody can stop the US from carrying out more attacks”, said Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi on Thursday.”

The article is primarily quotes the Magsi on how he feels about future raids within Balochistan similar to the one carried out in Abbottabad

Sources: Media press conference at Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University.

Audience Views/Public Opinion: the article primarily raises concern for Balochistan.

Title: ‘US, Pakistan move on from Abbottabad incident’

Caption: “Grossman meets senior civilian and military leaders to discuss Afghan endgame. PHOTO: AFP/FILE.”

Content Characteristics: Assesses the relationship between Pakistan and the US post-obl raid. lead: “After days of tensions over the killing of Osama

bin Laden, Pakistan and the United States appear to have moved on, shifting their focus from the controversy to the more pressuring issue of managing the endgame for the decade-long war in neighboring Afghanistan.”

The article talks about where the US-Pakistan relationship stands and how it is moving forward

Sources: Sources close to the envoy, Presidential spokesman Farahtullah Babar is quoted

Audience Views/Public Opinion: The article focuses on positive facts about the US-Pakistan relationship post-obl raid but also raises the issue of anti-Americanism in Pakistan, being at its worst.

Analysis As it is mentioned in Hackett & Zhao, media clearly plays a

strong role in the politics of a country. If you look at all the articles highlighted in this presentation, there is a strong focus on relaying the facts and making the reader think. These attribute to change in policies etc. overtime.

If you look at Philip Seib’s, ‘The Al Jazeera Effect’, he gives emphasis to the availability of information in effective communication and change. I think if you apply that principle to the Express Tribune, you can see there is a strong demand for information. Several articles are written about one topic, including blog posts and opinions. These add to the information for the reader.