Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism

A Community of Common Destiny or Geopolitics? Representations of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Transnational Press

Abstract

Usman Umer, Buddhi Prasad Sharma and Nazia Hussain

Today, media form and often fuel the narrative which inevitably covers mega infrastructural projects. This study examines, through the content analysis, how the transnational, i.e., Pakistan, China and India, press frames China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Framing was applied as a theoretical foundation of the study which was most relevant and congruent to the aim of the research. By using multi-stage sampling technique, a sample of 399 news stories from timeline of April 20, 2015 to April 30, 2017 was drawn from the selected press to explore the frames used while reporting CPEC. By and large, the findings indicate that the transnational press presented CPEC as an economic game-changer which would help stakeholders build a community of common destiny. At an individual level, the Pakistani press focuses on the presentation of the economic game-changer whereas the Chinese and the Indian press concentrate on trust restoration among key players involved. The overall difference in framing of CPEC among the selected press was found significant. The implications of the findings have also been discussed.