Dawn

The Dawn newspaper is the oldest running newspaper in Pakistan and also the most widely circulated. The newspaper contains various sections. Mainly the Headline (FrontPage), National, International and World In Focus section. Reading the newspaper gives me a varied perspective since the newspaper has different angles to different stories. The stories are free of bias and those with an open end are left open so as to let the reader decide their own angle on the story.

I chose to focus on the International & World In Focus section. They both generally showcase various takes on the international community as a whole. The stories in this section are not constrained to the major players in the world or those countries that grace the media very often. Many obscure countries also hit the newspaper with hilarious or serious news. The news is not always grave, it also has a soft angle or just a descriptive angle. For example a story of “Prince William: some facts” provides description of Prince William and nothing else.

There is no set agenda for this section other than presenting different stories of different countries. Many of which are not international players. Countries vary from USA, China, Israel, Iran, Lebanon and UK, which are international players in modern day politics, to Poland, Nigeria, Canberra (Australia) and Ankara (Turkey). This shows that the newspaper does not support one country or focus on one country only. The array of stories also provides the reader from news from different parts of the world, thus, proving that Dawn International and World In Focus section caters well to its name.

The news is up to date with events in the above mentioned countries, while some news stories are stories running as updates to a previous story. For example Iran’s nuclear project is a continuing story which keeps getting updates in the news. While one story “Military action won’t stop Iran N-plan: Gates” focuses on the opposing story, another story the next day “Chavez to back Iran ‘under any circumstances’” focuses on the pro side to Iran’s nuclear program, thus, retaining a very neutral side to the story.

This section also has two pictures that are captioned but don’t necessarily follow a story. The pictures are from any country regardless of their status or importance. The pictures generally offer a nice complete view to the newspaper and are a break from the written stories. The pictures are never graphic but do at times provide a political angle to the story.

Apart from that, the section usually has one advertisement. The advertisement is usually affiliated with a foreign country. For example an advertisement from the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) or Overseas Pakistani Foundation can be found in the newspaper. At times there are local advertisements or a university showcase, such as UNSW (University of New South Wales).

The newspaper retains a very broad perspective on its stories. And has a very up to date agenda with regard to happening stories. The news stories are very different in their angles and truly offer an international know-how. The Dawn is a well established newspaper because of its reliability. There are no offensive stories in the paper or any crude or grammatically incorrect stories. The stories have reliable sources and different perspectives. The Dawn also has a website where follow ups to these international stories can be found. Also the latest news stories can be contributed to by lay-man people. The objectivity and the varied stories in the paper are what make Dawn a preferred newspaper amongst others.