MEDIA FRAMING AND FOREIGN POLICY-DECISION MAKING: AN ANALYSIS OF PAK CHINA RELATIONSHIP (MEDIA PERSPECTIVE JAN 2012 TO DEC 2013)

The present research Media Framing and Foreign policy-Decision Making: An analysis of Pak China relationship (Media perspective Jan 2012 to Dec 2013) is related and focused on the Pak China foreign relations, its media framing and impact of media framing on policy formulation. Basically, this study analyses the role of both foreign policy makers on media how they make them to interpret the policies through editorials and of Media how they help in formulating the policies or in decision makings. This article analysis the relationship study of China with Pakistan with respect to mutual and national interest. It explores how china and Pakistan take stands on certain issues and formulates foreign relationship with each other according to its diplomatic relations and requirements. The study is the result of the content analysis of newspapers of Pakistan and China, the study emphasis on the editorial coverage of selected newspaper, it examines the content of selected editorials according to the selected categories, and it helps in analyzing the relationship between media content and foreign policy in the china and Pakistan.


INTRODUCTION
China and Pakistan constitute a major strategic bilateral in the geopolitics of Asia. China is the most influential developed country and formidable communist power in the existing hierarchy of superpowers. Since the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Pakistan favored US joining the US block establishing the diplomatic relations with Pakistan on October 20, 1947, almost two months after the independence. Since then, the relationship between the two countries was based primarily on the American economic and military assistance to Pakistan on various occasions. (Niazi 2006, p 45) during the primary years of independence in early 1950 Pakistan due to unstable socio-economic conditions was looking for confederate or an ally that would safeguard from Indian supremacy which was more in steady condition in defense and economically. The US showed quite apprehensive attitude towards Pakistan as a patron and was reluctant to divulge commitments of being a patron state and to identify Pakistan goals in relation to India, which provoked the sagacity of infidelity among Pakistani masses. Pakistan being a state with sharing borders with several states would have other allies as well and this realization among the media and policy makers made the move and navigated towards the People Republic of China. Pakistan and China both are tied in firm bonds since independence of China as Pakistan has always supported China, they have been resilient for decades. In response Pakistan is always valued by the Chinese leadership and they always supported Pakistan on different issues of concern. Pakistan China and India shares a complicated history of border disputes, Military confrontations of India -China at line of Actual control LAC and India -Pakistan at the Line of Control LOC, after the war of 1965 between India and Pakistan, US showed until now the aid and ally attitude towards India which led to have prudent decision of Pakistan and China come closer in all means to have geopolitical support for each other.
Pakistan has enduring, deep rooted, multi dependent relations with China. Pakistan and China are neighbors and the history of the terms between both countries goes back decades as Pakistan and China got independence almost the same times with difference of almost two years. The relations between both Pakistan and China are based on the trust and confidence since independence. The means identify and interest mutuality has raised a hallmark between the relations. Pakistan has always supported china at regional and international level regarding different issues especially china's sovereignty such as Tibet issue, Xinxiang issue and other such issues. In contrast the China's leadership has always appreciated the Pakistan's support to china particularly in normalization of the China-US relations in 1970's when Pakistan played an important role to break isolation between west and United States. (IPRI fact file, 2011).
Pakistan and China established diplomatic relations officially in 1951, in 1955 during the Bandung Conference talks between the head of the States of the two countries held and the meeting played a vital role in cooperation between both Pakistan and China. In 1961 for the restoration of legitimate rights of China in the United Nations Pakistan voted China. In 1962 during Indo-China conflict Pakistan supported China whereas during the Indo-Pak wars in 1965 and 1971 Pakistan was supported by China with military and economic assistance which lead to the economic, trade and technology related cooperation in 1982.In the days of Cold War China helped Pakistan to greater extent and in this way Pakistan had a strong strategic guarantor in the region which was China, in the nuclear weapons designing information China assisted Pakistan when Pakistan started the nuclear program, China is also considered as a very good friend and an important weaponry source along with economic, trade and investment matters. In late 1980s the missile technology cooperation between Pakistan and China was observed. In 1996 the Chinese President visited Pakistan and the strengthening of the relationships between Pakistan and China was urged and since then same strategy is being followed by the two states. In 2005, Pakistan and China signed a friendship and cooperation treaty where it was committed that no country would join any bloc or alliance which is based on violation of the sovereignty, integrity, regional security, and the territorial integrity of any side. In 2006 Pakistan and China urged nuclear and defense cooperation, trade, and energy cooperation, Gawader port and Karakoram Highway were focused between both Pakistan and China (Aneja, 2006).
The current study is focused to determine on how the factors related to bilateral interests of Pak-China relations are being reported in the elite press of Pakistan and China. Today the media of all types of electronic or print media has a quite significant place in human society especially in constructing the social relations at national and international level. Media's importance can be judged by the role of media in such a way that it also has influence in the decision and policy making of the countries; moreover media also have the role as a stake holder in forming the foreign policies of the countries on one hand whereas in unveiling the facts at national and international levels and this leads research to evaluate how media devise countries to formulate their foreign polices with respect to their national and mutual interests.

Rational of the study and Time period
For many years various studies are conducted on media and foreign policy relationship (Cohen, 1963;Cohen, 1967;Larson, 1984;Hallin, 1986;Mermin, 1999 ) the studies conducted particularly on the Pak-US coverage and the relationship between both countries also explain the role of media in foreign policy and framing the relationships and also playing role in setting the agendas of the governments (Mughees, 1993;Salim, 1998;Mughees, 2010;Siraj, 2006;Gul, 1998;Ali & Shahaid, 2012;Yousaf & Ali, 2012;Sultan, 2013;Yousaf, Ali & Ahmed, 2013). These studies acted as a catalyst for researchers to work under the umbrella of the impact of both media and foreign policy relationship to reveal that whether media support or oppose the official stance on issues between the countries.
During the certain period (January 2012 to December 2013) as elections held in Pakistan and a new government formed in Pakistan, US possible withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, Pakistan's development projects with China at Gwadar and Gas Pipeline project with Iran and the trade with India, Indo-US Civil Nuclear deal are the developments of the selected time. So, keeping the situation in mind there is a need to ensure the validity of the above-mentioned researchers and scholars regarding the media and foreign policy relationship, particularly the Pak-China relationship. This research indicates the media and foreign policy stance and how they are interrelating with each other in formulating the decision-making process among both countries through their respective newspapers and how it was effective or helped in devising the foreign policy with respect to mutual and national interests.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Framing
Framing is a significant idea, which assists with understanding that how an occurrence is anticipated, depicted, or outlined in the media content Ali and Shahid (2012). This idea has been utilized by numerous media researchers like Gitlin (1980), Mughees (1993, Saleem (1998), Yousaf (2012), Ali and Shahid (2012), Yousaf and Ali (2012), and is getting progressively famous with the end goal of exploration in media and mass communications. This idea is advantageous in clarifying the connection between the framing of the different issues, happenings and matters of Pakistan and China that is additionally being examined in the examination close by to discover the relation. Gitlin (1980) characterizes media outlines as "relentless examples of insight, understanding, and introduction of determination, accentuation, and rejection, by which image overseers regularly arrange talk, regardless of whether verbal or visual". He proposes that if the media are to be viewed as mirrors, it should be as "mirrors in a pleasant house".
He says that the outlining of an issue is affected by which numerous pieces of data are remembered for or rejected from a story. Gitlin (1980) further says "Media are versatile bright lights, not latent reflections of the public; selectivity is the instrument of their activity. A report embraces a specific casing and dismisses or minimizes material that is discrepant. A story is a decision, a method of screening from sight (Gitlin, 1980referred to in Mughees, 1993, Ali and Shahid, 2012, Yousaf and Ali, 2013. The media pundits have likewise utilized the term 'outlining'. Noam Chomsky utilized this term in a meeting (Szykowny, 1990referred to in Mughees, 1993 to allude to the way the New York Times presented a report revealing a proposal on August 23, 1990, by Iraq to pull out from Kuwait. Essentially, Chomsky contended that The New York Time's story minimized the Iraqi proposal by opening its story with an assertion from the US Government defaming it (Mughees, 1993 referred to in Shahid, 2012 andYousaf andAli, 2013). In this examination the hypothesis of agenda setting, and the idea of framing are utilized to research the framing of the publications and the segments of the elite press of Pakistan, China while depicting Pak-China relations from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2013.

METHODOLOGY
Content analysis is an appropriate method of research which is used to analyses the relationship study of media and foreign policy and how the media is used as an input for decision making process and its impact on the bilateral relationship for mutual and national interest. Content analysis is the documentary method of social research that emphasis at both qualitative and quantitative analysis, Sarandakos (1998).
To conduct the research, universe of the study includes all the editorials and columns of the newspapers: Global Times from China and Daily Dawn of Pakistan, the selected period for study of analysis is January 2012 to December 2013. Sampling in this research is the whole universe (the editorials and columns of selected newspapers) to be analyzed with reference to the cited categories A, B, C, D, E and F of Pak-China relation. Words, sentences, paragraphs or an entire editorial or column, which specifies the existence of any one of the categories, published in Pakistan and Chinese newspaper (Daily Dawn and Global China) is the unit of analysis. Categories: The core of the content analysis are categories, these are the set of codes, criteria, or measures, which are cohesive a theme or value, helps us in collecting data and analyzing our research. (Sarandakos, 1998:281 The totality of impression was a process which was used to create the 'directions' of the communication, this method was introduced by Berelson (1952). It assists to observe the directions of the content of the editorials and columns of selected newspapers and the data would be sorted on three-point scale. These are: Supportive/Favorable/Positive (+): the editorial or column is considered Supportive in nature if it falls Positive in study's context. Opposite /Unfavorable /negative (-): the editorial or column is considered unsupportive or critical if it is negative in narration and its overall attitude is unfavorable in the study's context. Neutral/Balance (0): the editorial or column is considered balanced or neutral if the content is equivocal or elusive or its emphasis on aspects of an issue in balance of both supportive and unfavorable arguments about the study.

. Categories and Directions of Columns and Editorials of Daily Dawn from Jan 2013-Dec 2013
Year  Table 6 indicates the overall ratios of column and editorials of Daily Dawn from Jan 2012 to Dec 2013. In the given chart there is 5.5% articles in category "A", 10.1% in category "B", 20.3% in category "C", 23.1%in "D", 36.1%in "E" and 4.6% in category "F". Further these categories are divided in to three directions favorable, unfavorable, and neutral. In category "A" 50% are favorable, 16.6 %are unfavorable and 33.3% are neutral in directions. In category B there is 9.1% favorable 18.1%unfavorable and 72.7 neutral. In category C there is 54.5 % favorable 13.6 % unfavorable and 36.6 %neutral directions. In category D there is 44.1% favorable, 12% opposite and 40% is neutral in directions. in category E there is 35.8% in favorable, 15.8% in opposite, 48.7 in neutral direction and whereas in category F it indicates that there is 40% in favorable, 0% in opposite and 60% in neutral direction respectively. Here we can perceive that category "E" is given maximum space in columns and editorial of Daily Dawn that is 36.1% and category "D" 23.1% is second in number after "E" then category "C", "B", "A" with 23.1%, 20.3%, 10.1% and in the end the least one is category "F" that is 4.6%. Table No. Table 7 indicates the overall fractions of column and editorials of Global Times China from Jan 2012 to Dec 2013. In the given graph there is 20% articles in category "A", 2.8% in category "B", 20 % in category "C", 25.7% in "D", 22.8%in "E" and 8.5% in category "F". Further these categories are divided in to three directions favorable, opposite, and neutral. In category "A" 28.5% are favorable, 14.2 %are opposite and 57.1% are neutral in directions. In category B there is 10% favorable, 0%opposite and 0% neutral. In category C there is 57.1 % supportive 14.2 % negative and 28.5 % neutral directions. In category D there is 55.5% positive, 33.3% opposite and 11.1% is neutral in directions. in category E there is 25% in favorable, 0% in opposite, 75% in neutral direction whereas in category F it indicates that there is 66.6% in favorable, 0% in opposite and 33.3% in neutral direction respectively. Here we can notice that category "D" is given maximum space in columns and editorial of Global Times China that is 25.7% and category "E" 22.8% is second in number after "D" then category "A", "C", "F" with 20%, 20%, 8.5% and in the end the least one is category "B" that is 2.8%.  Table 8 gives the comparative analyses of the Categories and directions in each category of both newspapers, Global times China and Daily Dawn Jan 2012 to Dec 2013. The overall outcome is that in category "A" that is War on terror/Terrorism issue factor in Pak-China relations; there are total 13 column and editorials published in both Global Times and Daily Dawn, there are 5 in favorable direction, 2 in opposite and 6 in neutral direction. In category "A" there is 2 in favorable, 1 in opposite and 4 neutral in direction in Global Times China whereas in Daily Dawn 3 in favorable, 1 in opposite and 2 in neutral direction.

Categories and Directions of Columns and Editorials of Global Times China from Jan 2012-Dec 2013
In category "B" that is nuclear issue factor in Pak-China relations; there are total 12 column and editorials published in both Global Times and Daily Dawn. Total in direction there are 2 in favorable direction, 2 in opposite and 8 in neutral direction. In category "B" there is 1 in favorable, there is no editorial or column in opposite direction in Global times and no editorial or column in neutral in direction in Global Times China whereas in Daily Dawn 2 in favorable, 2 in opposite and 8 in neutral direction.
In category "C" that is Defense and military relations factor in Pak-China relations; there are total 30 column and editorials published in both Global Times and Daily Dawn. Total in direction there are 16 in favorable direction, 4 in opposite and 10 in neutral direction. In category "C" there is 4 in favorable, there is 1 in opposite direction in Global times and 2 in neutral in direction in Global Times China whereas in Daily Dawn 12 in favorable, 3 in opposite and 8 in neutral direction.
In category "D" that is Democracy and diplomatic relations factor in Pak-China relations; there are total 33 column and editorials published in both Global Times and Daily Dawn. Total in direction there are 16 in favorable direction, 6 in opposite and 11 in neutral direction. In category "D" there is 5 in favorable in Global times whereas 11 in favorable direction in Daily Dawn, there is 3 in opposite direction in Global times and 3 in opposite direction in Daily Dawn also 1 in neutral in direction in Global Times whereas in Daily Dawn there is 10 in neutral direction.
In category "E" that is Trade and Economic relations factor in Pak-China relations; there are total 47 column and editorials published in both Global Times and Daily Dawn. Total in direction there are 16 in positive direction, 5 in opposite and 25 in neutral direction. In category "E" there is 2 in favorable in Global times whereas 14 in supportive direction in Daily Dawn, there is no editorial and column in opposite direction in Global times and 6 in opposite direction in Daily Dawn also 6 in neutral in direction in Global Times whereas in Daily Dawn there is 19 in neutral direction.
In category "F" that is Others/Miscellaneous (Sports/Showbiz/Education/Health related matters) factor in Pak-China relations; there are total 8 column and editorials published in both Global Times and Daily Dawn. Total in direction there are 4 in supportive, 0 in opposite and 4 in neutral direction. In category "F" there is 2 in favorable in Global times whereas 2 in favorable direction in Daily Dawn, there is no editorial and column in opposite direction in Global times China and there is no editorial or column in opposite direction in Daily Dawn, there is 1 in neutral in direction in Global Times whereas in Daily Dawn there is 3 neutral in direction.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
The period of year 2013 is very significant in Pak-China relations, it was the time when Pakistan and China signed the landmark Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation for the Long-term Plan on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and strategic cooperation, Gwadar port construction and operation project was awarded to China, and further steps were taken to common the vision of deepening the China-Pak relations. This study 'Media Framing and Foreign policy-Decision Making: An analysis of Pak China relationship (Media perspective Jan 2012 to Dec 2013)' helps in understanding the Media, foreign policies and decisionmaking process of both countries Pakistan and China.
"The press may not be successful in telling people what to think, but it stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about". Predicted by Bernard Cohen (1963). Previous studies has always mentioned media as a channel of delivering messages during the process but this is not all, media has a far more role in this process of media foreign policy and decision making process , media is a vital part of this process. According to the findings more coverage has given by Daily Dawn to the Pak-China relations related factors as compared to the Global Times China. Daily Dawn in Pakistan shows that the editorials and opinion makers more positively framed the image of China in Pakistan as new dynamics in national and mutual interest in bilateral relation which has evolved from diplomatic and defense centric cooperation to development and trade focused engagements. Global times shows a less frequency of articles with respect to Pakistan, more have been observed with respect to the China's geo-political factors. War in terror and nuclear issues is no doubt a very important factor which impact strongly the geo-political and diplomatic relationship between China and Pakistan, in this scenario newspaper of both countries shows the same stance of their policy makers analysts' emphasis on Pakistan is China's one real ally and good neighbor in bilateral relationship, the coverage shows more neutral stance on region stability. The study has concluded that Daily Dawn of Pakistan and Global times China are more positive and neutral with edifice stance emphasizing on the strategic, Diplomatic & Democratic, Economic relations with respect to the mutual and national interests of both countries, that is more helping in deepening the bilateral relations ship among two nations. This research work also explained that Global Times China clearly follows the national policy of decision maker and trail its government stance through media to make public opinion. Whereas Pakistan media is at liberty to indorse the factors of mutual and national interests also Mass media have its own perspectives concerning the decision making -foreign policy process of the country.