ROLE OF ENGLISH PRESS IN STRENGTHENING ACCOUNTABILITY INSTITUTIONS OF PAKISTAN DURING 2013-2021

The study “Role of English Press in Strengthening Accountability Institutions of Pakistan During 2013-2021” aimed to find out how media especially the English Press explore, highlights, and analyze the problems in accountability institutions like the National Accountability Bureau, Public Accounts Committee


INTRODUCTION
Media has an important role in the political life of the state.It is not only meant for information transformation but also an effective tool of communication.It can also play an effective role during crises like wars and conflicts among states.Both in developed and developing societies the significance of accountability in private and public sectors cannot be overstated.Due to the conflicting democratic situation in Pakistan, there is a rising concern about corruption and accountability mechanisms.All institutions of public accountability such as the National Accountability Bureau, Public Accounts Committee, and Federal Investigation Bureau need to be strengthened.To strengthen these institutions media can play an effective role in highlighting the wrongdoings either by officials or the government itself.Media can also suggest ways to curb corruption in society.

Significance of the Study
This study seeks to examine the impact of the media on accountability by analyzing the social and political framework of the Pakistani political system from 2013 to 2021.The research aims to investigate the perspectives presented by English newspapers, namely Dawn and The News, considering their adherence to professional journalistic standards within both internal (media organization) and external (social and political structure) contexts.The study aims to enhance our understanding of how the English press approaches accountability-related matters and explore the variations in news coverage and editorial writing concerning the same issues.

Rationale of the Study
Both in developed nations and developing social orders the meaning of accountability in private and public areas couldn't possibly be more significant.Because of the intricacy of present-day majority rule governments where organizations of accountability connections exist, there are rising worries that accountability is currently annihilation.There is a requirement for tending to these worries, particularly on account of a non-industrial nation like Pakistan.The absence of transparency and accountability could bring about a quick spreading of discomfort which can ultimately prompt a total separation of social requests.All institutions of public accountability, for example, the public accounts committee, auditor general, and ombudsmen should be reinforced.To fortify these institutions media can assume a compelling part in featuring the bad behaviors either by authorities or the actual government.According to the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (2011), the media plays a crucial role in keeping the public informed about current events and raising awareness about various issues within a society.Furthermore, it significantly influences the perspectives and opinions of the general population.The media serves as the primary channel through which public sentiment is shaped and sometimes manipulated.If this is the media's function during normal circumstances, it becomes even more crucial during critical periods, such as election milestones, when the media becomes a key player.Elections pose a significant challenge to the media, questioning its impartiality and objectivity.The role of the media, particularly public media outlets, should not be to act as a mouthpiece for any government entity or specific candidate.Its primary responsibility is to inform and educate the public while serving as an unbiased and objective platform for the free exchange of all viewpoints.
Ahmad (2021) says generally public associations are an assortment of people, having a place with different positions and records, which are relegated to explicit obligations and are likewise responsible to keep the recommended guidelines.As it were, they all are aggregately responsible to the lawful gatherings for distinguishing the issues concerning the exhibition of the association.Subsequently, the gathering can seek after the aggregate accountability technique, i.e., for one methodology, and get hold of any person in the association and question him about the working of his set-up.In any case, essentially this system has flaws; lawfully as well as morally it may not yield the ideal outcomes.An individual tolerating the aggregate disappointments might turn to fault tossing, accordingly, convoluting the whole course of fair and flawless course accountability.This technique, nonetheless, ends up being successful in unambiguous little associations, working with generally fewer people.Mechtenberg, et al. (2020) states whistleblowing is the exposure by the representatives of supposed bad behavior, unscrupulous practices, or acts, sporadic, unlawful, or degenerate practices by businesses that might be considered as an infringement of the law or as a glaring misrepresentation or corruption.The meaning of representative informants has prompted an expansive agreement among researchers and professionals for being crucial for uncovering and forestalling corruption.Inward whistleblowing incorporates uncovering claimed moral or lawful breaks to power inside an association, and outer whistleblowing connects with the divulgence of unfortunate behavior to power outside an association.Even though workers who report bad behavior generally feel an ethical obligation to do as such, in any case, apprehension about retaliatory activities from partners and executives is for sure a fundamental balancing component.The best-practice standards of worldwide bodies, advocate for satisfactory legitimate insurance for informants against substantial work activities (like excusal or downgrade) and diverse types of counters.
In the context of Pakistan, Ahmed (2021) explains that several existing laws aim to address corruption, including the Prevention of Corruption Act-1947(PCA-1947), Pakistan Penal Code-1860 (PPC-1860), and the National Accountability Ordinance-1999(NAO-1999).At the federal level, there are two Anti-Corruption Authorities (ACAs), namely the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).Additionally, there are four Anti-Corruption Establishments (ACEs) operating at the provincial level, responsible for investigating corruption cases in the public sector.Cases sent by NAB are handled by Accountability Courts established under the NAO-1999, while cases referred by FIA and ACEs are dealt with by Central and Provincial Special Courts under the Criminal Law Amendment Act-1958.Apart from these authorities, there are other institutions such as the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), Public Accounts Committees (PACs), Judicial Commission, Election Commission of Pakistan, Auditor General of Pakistan, State Bank of Pakistan, Competition Commission of Pakistan, and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.These institutions are involved in examining financial irregularities, corruption, and unethical practices.In addition, Pakistan has twelve independent Ombudsman institutions at both the federal and provincial levels, which operate based on the Islamic concept of 'administrative accountability.'These Ombudsmen work autonomously to serve and protect the interests of citizens.Overall, the anti-corruption system in Pakistan appears to be a complex network of laws and institutions.
Faisal, & Jafri (2017) expressed that corruption and great administration are hostile powers that actively work in any evolved or immature country.While corruption spreads huge amounts at a time, great administration is to be constructed step by step.The relative strength of corruption and great administration decides the condition of progress or disappointment of the government to accomplish improvement goals inside a government assistance state.Corruption thrives when the government of a nation neglects to strengthen the proportions of good administration consistently.Intermittent endeavors of cautious nature against corruption don't deliver the ideal aftereffects of social government assistance.To present a decisively solid arrangement of good administration it is important to look at the significance and techniques for corruption that compromises the presence of good administration.
Siegel (2020) makes sense of vote-based institutions straightforwardly modifying the way residents interact with the government; discretionary institutions are a direct illustration of this.Be that as it may, they likewise act in a roundabout way.Realizing that one's vote will be counted can modify one's view of other types of political contestation, like a contradiction.Political organizations can likewise make both immediate and aberrant impacts.For instance, they not just characterize who has a direct impact on one's reasoning, yet additionally, delimit accessible data by indicating the pathways across which data ventures.The contingent impacts of institutions and organizations ought to be normal to interact; a free press could have a decreased impact when political organizations compel the scattering of data, or social capital as caught by network ties would further develop majority rule execution just within the sight of steady institutions.
Peters (2016) Contemporary administration mirrors the degree to which the formal and casual actors in the administration have adjusted their ways of behaving to the media climate inside which they capability.Anything that the objectives of a government, they should seek after those objectives inside the climate molded (to a limited extent) by mediatization.
Deane (2016) expressed that media encouragement accountability is the reason for great newscasting: constructing a society wherein the strong are responsible to the rest, where data is shared straightforwardly, where there is space for majority rule drive, and where residents can trade opinions decently.This is advanced through an autonomous and plural media landscape, with quality reporting sticking to moral standards.In many occurrences, particularly when these circumstances are not set up, media content can do the precise inverse.It can build up the force of personal stakes, compound existing disparities, and bar underestimated or basic voices.This is a significant entanglement that action should be kept away from while working with media.On a surer note, this entanglement can be kept away from, by attempting to work on the freedom of media outlets and the standards they apply to their substance.This can be a method for cultivating accountability in society at large.Matos (2012) in her exhaustive concentrate on the associations between media and legislative issues in Latin America comes to the end result that, 'disregarding the difficulties they face in regards to political pressures and the absence of enormous crowds, the "public" media in Brazil, and in numerous Latin American nations really can possibly be a power for change and to add to the better arrangement of value banter.(McCombs, & Shaw, 2014) The researchers assess how strategy agenda impact the view of journalists in Pakistan, on the grounds that these journalists set the agenda for the public about various social issues that how to contemplate social issues.Then again, their news distributed in the press or broadcast on TV further applies pressure on the government to make moves about unveiling policies to determine public issues.Therefore, the use of this theory is exceptionally substantial in concentrating because of the press in dissecting and depicting news connected with accountability institutions in Pakistan.Framing Theory (Goffman, 1974) Researchers see that in the inclusion of information things and publications connected with accountability institutions, both media is deeply shaping the considerations and opinions of individuals.Therefore, framing theory will be applied.As it says that media centers consideration around specific occasions and then places them inside a field of significance.This theory contends that what something is introduced to individuals means for their decisions while handling the data.Therefore, to check how the media dissect and depict news connected with accountability institutions in Pakistan, the framing theory will be applied.And check how the two newspapers cover a similar story will be investigated under the framing theory.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study has used content analysis for studying the Editorials and News reports.Purposive Sampling was used to select the Editorial and News reports.English Newspapers i.e., 'Dawn' & 'The News' were selected for conducting this research for the period from January 2013 to December 2021 as the presence of significant and verifiable political happenings in Pakistan, for example, the ascent of accountability and corruption discusses in this time period.Front-page news stories and editorials were analyzed in terms of the following categories: Headlines/ Title of the Editorial In the headlines section, the researcher finds out that either the title or headline is ridiculing, critical, Straightforward, sarcastic, and questions based.

Slant
In the slant section, the researcher finds out that either the slant of the newspaper towards accountability institutions is biased or unbiased.Tone In the tone section, the researcher finds out that either the tone of the editorial is cautionary, ridiculing, objective, frustrated, straightforward, or sarcastic.Language In the language section, the researcher finds out how the language of the editorial is cautionary, ridiculing, objective, frustrated, straightforward, and sarcastic.This is determined by the vocabulary used by the newspaper.The section is differentiated by the words and phrases used by the newspapers.

Placement
In the placement section, the researcher finds out where the newspaper has placed the editorial.The researcher indicated these places as first, second, third, and fourth.
Data were analyzed to discover, explain, and investigate the Role of the English Press in Strengthening Accountability Institutions of Pakistan during 2013-2021.Six Months were selected every year from 2013-2017.The manner for selection is odd numbers.These months are January, March, May, July, September, and November.The researcher coded the editorials lexically and conceptually to find the expected results for the research.Following are analytical findings with their respective months and years with their categorized codes; positive, negative, and neutral.The positive code will go for the good performance highlights, the negative goes for highlighting bad performance, and the neutral goes for highlighting issues where the newspaper does not give an opinion on the issue.

Statistical Analysis
Statistical analysis performed by researchers to explain the role of the English Press in strengthening the accountability institutions of Pakistan.The Chi-Square test has been performed as the test states the nature of the two variables and their dependency on each other.

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
The study focused on the details of how the English Press plays an important role in strengthening the accountability institutions of Pakistan.The details were processed, and wordings and tones were analyzed to understand the role of Daily DAWN and The News.The newspapers were selected from 2013-2021.Six months were selected from every newspaper.Each day of these months was analyzed while picking up editorials related to accountability institutions.Graphs were made after carefully analyzing these editorials via content analysis.These graphs depicted the rise and fall in negative, positive, and neutral editorials.
At the start of 2013, there were news related to elections, and terrorism that continued for 2016.Meanwhile, accountability and corruption were the least focused on by the newspapers.Whereas the rise of 2016 shifted the trend as well.The newspapers started focusing on accountability and corruption.The news particularly did not focus on accountability news rather it was more interesting in news related to military and defense institutions.However, in its comparison, DAWN focused more on accountability and corruption cases while arguing it is the essential element of a strong democracy.The researcher has highlighted every editorial that in any case explains corruption and accountability institutions.The researcher has discussed that the language, tone, placement, and slant of the editorial determines how the newspaper treated the issue.Answers to Research Questions: 1. Do English Press spread political information regarding the strengthening of democratic values in accountability institutions?
The newspapers Daily Dawn and The News were studied.Daily DAWN spread political information more than The News.These two newspapers discussed in their every editorial that a strong democratic system in the state is only possible with strong democratic values in accountability institutions.
2. Do English Press create Political Awareness (accountability, rule of law, equal citizenship rights) by strengthening accountability institutions?
The answer to this question is yes.There are many editorials where the newspapers criticized the state institutions and governments of Pakistan to maintain accountability, the rule of law, and equal citizenship rights.Thus, it can be concluded that yes, the newspaper played an effective role in strengthening the accountability process and institutions in Pakistan.
3. Do English Press construct Political Efficacy (Opinion building, Beliefs, Awareness, and decision-making) regarding the strengthening of democratic values in accountability institutions?Yes, these newspapers construct Political Efficacy (Opinion building, Beliefs, Awareness, and decision-making) regarding the strengthening of democratic values in accountability institutions.

CONCLUSION
The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the media in promoting accountability by analyzing the social and political structure of the Pakistani political system during 2013-2021.The research aimed to explore the voices of English newspapers (Dawn and The News) considering their professional journalistic standards as related to internal (media organization) and external (social and political structure) factors.This study helped in understanding the ways English Press takes issues related to accountability and it also helped in understanding the difference in coverage of the same news and editorial writing on the same issue.This study has used content analysis for studying the Editorials and news reports.Content analysis is a method to study and analyze text whether verbal, nonverbal, or written.The researcher has used this technique as to better examine and analyze the portrayal and role of the English Press in strengthening the accountability institutions of Pakistan depicted in selected newspapers during 2013-2021.The content of selected newspapers was analyzed to find out what sort of frames were being used and disseminated.
This research describes the analysis of data followed by a discussion of the research results.The findings relate to the research questions that directed the study.Data were analyzed to discover, explain, and investigate the Role of the English Press in Strengthening Accountability Institutions of Pakistan during 2013-2021.Six Months were selected from every year of 2013-2017.The manner for selection is odd numbers.These months are January, March, May, July, September, and November.
These results were put through statistical testing.Chi-testing was done on all the results obtained from these newspaper editorials.It clearly showed that newspapers played their role in strengthening the accountability institutions in Pakistan.Both newspapers were almost on the same page regarding this.Thus, it proved the researcher's hypothesis successfully that the print media played an effective role in strengthening the accountability process that leads to independent institutions for accountability in Pakistan.This research describes the analysis of data followed by a discussion of the research results.The findings relate to the research questions that directed the study.Data were analyzed to discover, explain, and investigate the Role of the English Press in Strengthening Accountability Institutions of Pakistan during 2013-2021.These results were put through statistical testing.Chi-testing was done on all the results obtained from these newspaper editorials.It clearly showed that newspapers played their role in strengthening the accountability institutions in Pakistan.Both newspapers were almost on the same page regarding this.Thus, it proved the researcher's hypothesis successfully that the print media played an effective role in strengthening the accountability process that leads to independent institutions for The media can likewise propose ways of controlling corruption in the public arena.Accordingly, this study plans to figure out how media particularly English Press investigate, feature, and dissect the issues in accountability institutions.Problem Statement Sumah (2018) states that corruption is the reason that undermines good governance, development and economy, rule of law, and state's legitimacy and weakens the institutions.Cooray et al. (2013) stated plus, corruption causes significant misfortune to the public exchequer stressing the government's ability to fund fundamental administrations like education, healthcare, water, sanitation, and law enforcement.The government likewise needs to depend on immense public getting for financing current uses as well as open area improvement.
Objectives of the Study  To compare the coverage of the Accountability Institutions in Pakistani English Press. To analyze the Accountability Institutions represented in the Pakistani English Press. To explore the policy of the English Press vis-à-vis strengthening of Accountability Institutions of Pakistan.