Abstract

The main focus of the study is to analyze how Pakistan's English newspapers, The News and The Nation, portrayed the US via cartoons in the year of 2011. The US doesn't enjoy a positive image among Pakistanis for many years and this has been highlighted in the print media more often. This study tests how these two leading newspapers portrayed the US in a comic manner. The cartoons of these two newspapers published in 2011 are quantitatively analyzed to test the hypotheses. This study examines how these two newspapers try to set their own agenda and frame any specific issue. Cartoons published in The Nation and The News of the year 2011 are taken as sample size. This is an exertion to examine the portrayal of the US via the cartoons published in 2011. For the sake of evaluating the positive, negative, and neutral portrayal of the US, variables, and categories are constructed under the light of Framing, which is a significant feature of Agenda Setting Theory. Framing affirms that there is some cognitive structure that lies in the mind, which leads to the perception of anyone. These frames are created intentionally and sometimes, the reader himself makes them.

Key Words

Framing Analysis, Print Media, Editorial Cartoon, US, Pakistan

Introduction

Cartoons have played much important role in highlighting serious issues in a comic way. They have become an important ingredient of newspapers because of their ability to create awareness about national and international matters. Cartoons just look like effortless symbols but, in reality, they are the result of higher-level thinking skills to tell a story of a very serious matter and at the same time entertain the readers and make them aware of the cartoonist's thoughts on the matter. A cartoon is an effective representation of any issue more effective than a narrative in words (Anderson, 2018). So many people have been subscribers of newspapers just because of cartoons as they tell a complete story in just an eye blink. "Cartoons reveal what the public finds ridiculous, annoying and attractive without essentially of being able to say why" (Arefi, 2015).

This study aims to test the relationship between cartoons published in newspapers and the representation of the United States of America. Examining the illustration of the US through cartoons published in the two leading Pakistani English dailies The News and The Nation from January 2011 to December 2011. Although cartoons play much vital role in communication very few studies, regarding the analysis of cartoons, are available in Pakistan. The purpose of selecting two different newspapers for the study is because of two different ideologies and a huge circulation of them in Pakistan. The News is assumed as an icon of liberalism and has the largest circulation in Pakistan, whereas, The Nation is assumed as conservative and a great critique of the US.

This study presents an understanding of how the Pakistani print media portray the US in their cartoons. Furthermore, this study investigates which newspaper gives maximum positive, negative, or balanced coverage to the US and what are the limitations forced on cartoonists by themselves and by their organization. To achieve those targets, the two English dailies The News and The Nation have been selected for the evaluation of the US image done by way of cartoon communication. These newspapers have been enjoying the highest distribution and belong to large publication groups in Pakistan, which means these newspapers have prime readership all over Pakistan. Their cartoons were created by famous cartoonists Shahtoon (The News) and Maxim (the Nation).

Both newspapers have been known for their policies and those are opposite to each other, The News has been known for its liberal policy, whereas The Nation has been known for its comparatively conservative policy. These newspapers of two different approaches have been examined in how they portray the US through their cartoons. The era selected for the analysis has been reflected as a noticeable part of the role of the US in Pakistan because there were many ups and downs in relations between the two countries. The issues between the two allies included the following topics:

• Raymond Davis issue
• Killing of Osama bin Laden
• War on terrorism
• Drone attacks in Pakistan
• Salalah attack
• Civil and military aid by the US

NATO supply line through Pakistan to Afghanistan

Literature Review

When it comes to the US image in Pakistan, it is assumed that the United States has a very much negative image and Pakistani media have played a crucial role in developing the image. This study focuses on the role of the Pakistani media. How they portrayed the US through cartoons.

Ashfaq (2012) pointed it out in her study that cartoons published in newspapers are critiques of the issues, personalities, and institutions of the periods. She also found that The News gave the maximum coverage to the “War on terrorism” than that of The Nation and The News is more critical than The Nation regarding the cartoon coverage. It is further concluded that the cartoons published in the selected Pakistani newspapers are more critical to “Change in US politics”.

She also mentioned that cartoons are unique pictorial creations; some of them are reality and some of them are cartoonist's personal opinion based. The cartoonists have the right to be allowed to work independently rather than be pressured by the authorities. The objective work has to be supported and the cartoonists should have freedom of expression. The cartoons shouldn't be just fulfilling the formality of the criticism or creating propaganda but message and purpose-oriented. Social and political issues along with the people's opinions have to be prioritized in the cartoons. The factor of respect should also be part of every cartoon while addressing any issue such as the faiths and beliefs of the other nations and people of the world regardless of the religions and values. The analysis of those and other characteristics given above is not meant to be the final words for this genre in general or the sample texts in particular. Rather it is only one possible reading of this genre indicating how these two countries Pakistan and Norway from different origins, cultures, values, beliefs, backgrounds, and environments portray the international issues through the medium of cartoons.

She further explained the reason for portraying the critical image of the US was that every citizen of Pakistan was expecting some different attitude of the new government of the US towards Pakistan but due to the drone attacks on Pakistan, it was portrayed as that Pakistanis were expecting wrong. The cartoonist portrayed US politics more critically in the sense of the Pakistanis' hope and expectations from US new politics. As the new black president, it was portrayed that Barack Obama would not be as much different as they were expecting but Barack Obama was also portrayed as the solution to the world's problems. She concludes the Drone attacks by US and war on terrorism that the basic theme in the cartoons was to highlight the sufferings of innocent victims of Drone Attacks by the US and in almost all the cartoons, the Cartoonist in The News highlighted that the US should stop the Drone Attacks because it was against the humanity.

Sajid (2020) declares in his study that the main subject of cartoon discourses has-been politicians. Cartoons can be powerful tools in shaping peoples' perceptions because their points can equally be absorbed and transmitted. Semiotic discourses have a twofold appeal. On one hand, they can amuse us and on the other provide a current social commentary on the world around us. The message imparted by them can be absorbed easily without much reflection or resistance. Semiotic images represent social and political issues. They act as social commentary and represent the dominant ideologies to maintain the status quo. Semiotic discourses of newspapers challenge the way we accept official images as real and true.

He also aired out that the use of directive language is there showing the concept of super-ordination of the West (America) and sub-ordination of Pakistan. The West being powerful wants submission and obedience by Pakistan regarding the fulfillment of her desired aims. The word Mazeed/more carries various meanings. It also carries the implication that Pakistan has already been doing things as directed by America but so far America is not satisfied with the efforts made by Pakistan and therefore Pakistan is being ordered to do more. Still a lot more is needed to be done by Pakistan to please America. Further the use of the noun "deed" and comparative "more" carries the implications that Pakistan should continue doing consciously and intentionally to satisfy America. A greater or additional amount of degree of effort is due to Pakistan to satisfy America.

He further argues that the concept of Western hegemony is shown in another way at a semiotic level also that President Bush dressed in civilian clothes ordered President Musharraf to wear an Army uniform. This thing also indicates the superiority of Western culture. It means that a civilian in the West is more powerful than the highest-ranked official of Pakistan. This cartoon also represents the concept of colonialism which stresses the use of force to tame the Eastern people. Therefore the American president is asking a military man to set things right by using coercive force. The United States appears to be the world's hegemony and sole civilizing force having the might and right to lead the world accordingly. He, through his research, wants to raise awareness about the power and ideological underpinnings of semiotics within the media discourses of Pakistan. His semiotic discourses are used to propagate various types of explicit and implicit ideologies. Semiotic discourses are representative of social, discursive, and coercive practices. The readers (viewers) extract meaning from them using their knowledge and beliefs of the world. This is how semiotic discourses represent the picture of the world around us, shape our understanding, and win the consent of the readers.

Hoffman & Howard (2007) highlight the American history of cartooning, which has, mostly, represented bribery. American history criticized the rulers, supported some of their policies, and criticized some of them. History suggests that cartoons helped the masses to understand ongoing social and political events. Cartoons are just caricatures of current and all-the-rage issues rather than real stories. Loopholes and hypocrisies of the political system have been illustrated in cartoons by employing humor. Cartoons can highlight social and political problems and suggest their solutions through a single illustration. Cartoonists acquire their information through as they are neither reporters nor editors (Bennett, 2016).

Hosterman (2007) argues that cartoons are simple visuals having symbols and text captions to aware the masses about any issue related to them. By nature, cartoons have been humorous and caught the attention of the masses. Cartoonists utter their personal point of view regarding any issue (Benoit et al, 2001). Cartoonist's pen has become more lethal than the sword as politicians have feared being depicted negatively through cartoons. Scholars have examined the influence of cartoons on readers' points of view about the issues of society or politics. Cartoons can demolish the peace and urge the public to physical action as Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) caused violence around the world (Biard & Littauer, 2018).

Buell, Emmett & Maus (1988) suggest that Editorials would become more influential and effective if they published cartoons with them. Editorials can't alter public opinion alone. The ability of cartoons to provide conclusions about the matter makes them a very important part of the newspaper. Most of the time, the situation requires visuals rather than only text to be understood easily and effectively (Bormann, Koester & Bennett, 1978).

Danner (2006) reviews earlier works on how researchers have given voice to the public and their respondents while testing anti-Americanism. He argues that upcoming studies to examine anti-Americanism through cartoons prove the ability of the readers to develop perceptions. His study discusses the U.S. image before 9/11 and after the 2003 Iraq invasion. America had a more positive image before 9/11, however, the scandal of Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq, the notorious elections in 2009, and the selection of Karzai as President of Afghanistan, all these matters damaged the American image throughout the world, which has been reflected in cartoons also (Bozo, 2016).  They selected 56 students to view 40 cartoons randomly, 20 from the New York Times and 20 from El Pais to test their hypotheses and research questions. They developed all the cartoons by using American English for the American students to investigate anti-Americanism. Respondents rated pro-American and anti-American cartoons, and the data analyzed cartoons, respondents, and their answers.

Mark (2006) focused on Spanish and U.S. cartoonists to examine their points of view regarding 9/11. He also examined the agreements and disagreements, before 9/11 and post-9/11, between the cartoonists of both sides. The engagement of these two cartoonists seems very critical in regard to anti-Americanism (Cagle, 2018). Long focuses the can he uses the cartoons of these cartoonists to determine and judge anti-Americanism. Rall is one of the famous American cartoonists known for his harsh anti-Americanism. He hardly gave space to the U.S. president, at that time, Bush (Calogero & Mullen, 2008).

Mark depicts these cartoonists as very receptive to arguing on anti-Americanism, as they always try to restore America's image. Danziger, another American cartoonist, portrays the U.S. as a tired Uncle Sam who tries to send a message to the American people that the American government is not only a capitalist who wants to control the whole world (Cappella & Jamieson, 1997). Mark's research question was to test that are the cartoonists of both countries were anti-American or otherwise. To answer this question, his findings suggest that Bush has been just a corporate capitalist who has nothing to do with the American people but to loot them (Chappatte, 2018). Cartoonists portray Bush as having a flag in one hand and using the other hand to fire up the enemies (Gans, 1979). Another cartoonist depicts Mr. Bush as he is not listening to the human rights activists but to the huge companies (Faure & Ribaut, 2016). Cartoonists also portray Mr. Bush as a hard-hitter as a Muslim who was hit by a U.S. missile just because Bush thinks he hates America (Garcin, 2003). Nonetheless, the reality is that 12 months after 9/11, a very small number of cartoons were published containing anti-American content in American newspapers. More cartoons were published having terrorist attack content in American and Spanish newspapers (Chappatte, 2018). In summary, Mark concludes that Spanish cartoonists have been less anti-American than American cartoonists (Fitzsimmons, 2018).

(Luce, 2005) criticizes the scholars of mass communication as he argues that cartoons deserve more attention than they have got from the scholars. Scholars have intended to develop theoretical work or analyze political news and speeches so that they overlooked the cartoons (Chen, Phiddian, & Stewart, 2017). This attitude of the scholars results in thousands of cartoons having significant importance without being analyzed (Chrisafis, 2017). In his study, Russell picks those cartoons that have significance and have been neglected by researchers. To develop a better understanding of cartoons, Russell examines two theories; Symbolic Convergence Theory and Fantasy Theme Analysis, and their methodologies. He tested how these two theories have been appropriated to analyze cartoons and how they have been used (Entman, 2008).

Russell concludes his study critically and develops some paths for further research. He examines the general perspective of the cartoonists by examining the cartoons they produced and the messages sent to the masses over time. He finds that cartoonists can mold the public opinion of an issue. Visual elements make cartoons way more important as they communicate with the public easily. A message can more directly be communicated through cartoons than through verbal communication (Coleman & Wasike, 2004). Audience from various cultural backgrounds can easily develop their opinion about a particular matter because of the visual aspect of the cartoons. Even if a person of a different cultural and language background or illiterate who does not understand the language of the cartoon he can understand the message of a cartoon (Edwards, 2001). This is because the meaning of the message sent through cartoons lies in the eyes of the reader and yet not a single definition and interpretation of a cartoon is developed, however, it does not mean that cartoons don't have a definition or interpretation (Sheckels, 2009).

Masses can obtain meanings from the illustrations that cartoonists intended to grasp the attention of the audience (Dorman & Farhang, 1987). Cartoons seem to be an influential tool for nonverbal communication in newspapers' editorial pages. People consuming print media hardly read news headlines and introductory parts of the news, however, they consume cartoons because they can be understandable in a short amount of time (McKenna, 2001). Cartoons have been a significant and important means of communication, to understand that, it is important to examine the history of cartoons (Courrier International, 2018).

(Gustavsson, 2013) carried out a study to analyze Danish cartoons controversy about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Muslims have been emotionally attached to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and would never tolerate anything against him. Gina's analysis suggests that Danish cartoonists were trying to set an example of how they use the privilege of freedom of expression (De Sousa & Medhurst, 1982). Flemming Rose, the Danish cartoonist, argues that religious sensitivities do not affect genuine self-expression as he called it romantic liberalism. Gina tries to establish that the term ‘romantic liberalism’ has a reason to expect the concept (Delporte, 2001). He quotes the political scientist Brendan O'Leary, a defender of the publication of the Muhammad cartoons, stating that cartoons were just a platform for those working-class people who don't like multicultural society to give their point of view (Daisug, 2018).

Neuberger & Kremar (2009) converse in a study about the major goals of the study such as to come across the importance and effects of cartoons that are considered as understudied parts of the media. They designed a qualitative experimental study to check readers' cognitive plans how they think before the test, what their exposure is, and what they think after the test.  They also probed newspaper articles and the cartoons used to pursue political matters, however, their basic aim was to measure changes in public attitude (Dimitrova, 2006). Their research, interestingly, finds key changes in attitudes of the individuals when it comes to less important issues while fewer changes were found in the very important issues. The most important finding of his study is that important changes in the attitude regarding matters of lower importance and fewer changes in the attitude regarding matters of much importance presented in the cartoons (Doizy & Dupuy, 2013). This work finds no major relationships while considering vital engagement matters.

Theoretical framework

The theory of framing relates to how a matter is portrayed in a particular story, picture, cartoon, or article, are used to examine the portrayal of the US through cartoons in Pakistani English newspapers. Content analysis is the method to complete the desired work of the study. Seven categories according to the nature of the study are created as follows.

• Category A: The killing of OBL.
• Category B: Attack on Salalah.
• Category C: Raymond Davis issue.
• Category D: US Civil and military aid to Pakistan.
• Category E: Drone attacks conducted by the US in Pakistan.
• Category F: War on terror.
• Category G: NATO supply line through Pakistan to Afghanistan.

The researcher has operationalized all the categories that any cartoon that provoked a hope with the US government, actions and responsibilities of Barack Obama that he would perform properly are counted as favorable (+). Cartoons in which the US is helping others are considered favorable (+) but any cartoon portrayed any conspiracy is considered as negative (-).

Any Cartoon, in which a distrustful point of view is given, is considered as unfavorable (-). Any cartoon that was about the killing of OBL, the attack on Salalah, the Raymond Davis issue, the role of both countries in the war on terrorism, or drone attacks conducted by the US inside Pakistani territory is also treated as unfavorable(-). If a cartoon is neither favorable nor against the US rather it gives out a general impression of international political issues, political actions, statements, and news, is considered Neutral (0).

Framing Theory

Media framing refers to behavioral or attitudinal outcomes that are due to how a given piece of information is being framed in public discourse. Media used to mold public opinion towards their own interest. Media, by doing this, sometimes ignore the responsibility of being fair and unbiased. Media researchers categorized this theory into two groups: studies of framing as the dependent variable and studies of framing as the independent variable. How frames create societal discourse about an issue and how different frames are adopted by journalists and the latter concerns framing setting, and how media frames influence on audience.

The framing concept has been gaining popularity day by day. This concept is significant to understanding how media develops issues and frames to set their agenda. Sometimes framing is used to understand multinational culture while sometimes it tries to propagate for achieving specific goals. The amount of media users has, dramatically, been increased in the last couple of years, hundreds of millions of people, now, using media and most of them use media for news and information. The most influential tool of media is framing incidents and events through news stories in specific ways. After the inception of electronic media, framing has gotten more speed in communication studies as it guides scholars and students to investigate, understand, and implicate the results of media content. Most of the previous studies have focused on news content and its effects.

Media used to frame, almost, every issue, and the same is the case with Pakistani newspapers. Framing theory supports this study as it allows the researcher to test how both newspapers have framed the selected issue in favor of America or otherwise through cartoons.

Hypotheses

H1: Cartoons in The News will portray a negative image of the US than that of The Nation.

H2: The cartoons of The Nation will be more critical than that of The News.

Methodology

This section of the study discusses the formulation of research objectives, methodological design, population and sampling procedure, data collection, and interpretation techniques. The review of the relevant literature is the next step in formulating objectives and literature review is considered a basic part of the research procedure. This study is based on content analysis which is defined as a research procedure with the aim, of a quantitative and systematic narrative about the content of communications (Berelson, 1952).

The role of cartoons in print media is analyzed under the hypotheses by using a systematic procedure of data collection. The main method for this study is content analysis. Given the nature and focus of the study, the content of the cartoons of two mainstream newspapers is of crucial importance. Information about the different roles of media is obtained through different relevant literature. The proposed research required lots of data to be collected and analyzed. The time period to examine is the year of 2011. The content of cartoons of "The Nation” and “The News” in this time period is analyzed.

Population

The population for this research study is all the cartoons of The News and The Nation about the killing of OBL, the attack on Salalah, the issue of Raymond Davis and role of the both countries in the war on terrorism, drone attacks conducted by the US in Pakistan and US Civil and military aid to Pakistan published in the year of 2011. This year is of much significance as a lot of things related to the US image were published in Pakistan.

Sampling

Stempel III (1952) suggested that raising the size of the sample does not generate variations in the results of any research. This study used the sampling procedure developed and used by Vilanilm (1967) and sampling criteria recommended by Stempel with a little variation. In this study, the researcher has used the Systematic Random Sampling method to get samples from the population. For this to work, the researcher has ordered the whole population, which consists of all the cartoons published in 2011 portraying the US in The Nation and The News.

Data Collection

The role of print media regarding cartoons is analyzed under the hypotheses by analysis of two English newspapers. Given the nature and focus of this study, content analysis is of crucial importance. The time period in order to get as much information as possible about the policy of these newspapers and the way they adopted to highlight the US through their cartoons. The proposed research requires exhaustive data to be collected and analyzed. The time period to examine is the whole year of 2011. The data was collected from the official websites of both newspapers. The researcher possesses all the data in soft form as well as in print.

Results

All the collected data is analyzed by using SPSS. Results and findings are presented through tables and graphs. These results show how The Nation and The News portray the U.S. in their cartoons.  The results of both newspapers are presented separately, which are discussed in the "Discussion" part of this study to critically analyze them.  First of all, the results of The Nation are presented as below;

The Nation

Table 1

Frequency

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	Raymond Davis Issue	8	13.6
	OBL Operation	4	6.8
	Civil & Military Aid	8	13.6
	War on Terror	24	40.7
	Salalah Attack	3	5.1
	NATO Supply Line	1	1.7
	Drone Attacks	11	18.6
	Total	59	100.0

 


While analyzing the U.S. image, the cartoons of 2011, the most significant year in Pak-US relations, occasion or topic of the cartoons are categorized into seven types and Fig 5.1 shows that the Nation, most of the times, highlighted "war on terror" in its cartoons with frequency of 24 where N= 59. The second most highlighted issue is "Drone Attacks" with a frequency of 11. The issue of Raymond Davis and Civil/Military Aid from America to Pakistan share the third position with an equal frequency of 8.

Table 2

Active State

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	Neutral	3	5.1
	Against	56	94.9
	Total	59	100.0

 

 

Table 2 shows the clear policy of The Nation as it portrays America negatively in 56 cartoons out of 59. Not a single cartoon was published in the favor of U.S. while only three cartoons remained neutral. Huge difference in portrayal via cartoons proves the rightist and conservative policy of The Nation. This newspaper always portrays America negatively, not only through cartoons but also through its news stories, editorials, and columns.

Table 3

Human Subject

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	Yes	23	39.0
	No	36	61.0
	Total	59	100.0

 


Cartoons do have human figures in them and Table 3 allows us to know that The Nation puts human subjects 23 times and 36 cartoons were published with no human caricatures. Who are these human personalities who got placed in cartoons are shown in the next graph.

Table 4

Personalities

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	None	36	61.0
	Obama	15	25.4
	Osama	3	5.1
	Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani	2	3.4
	Rehman Malik	3	5.1
	Total	59	100.0

 


Table 4 shows the personalities whose caricatures are published in The Nation. American president Barak Obama has been the main focus of the newspaper as he appears in 15 cartoons while Osama and at that time Pakistan's Foreign Minister Rehman Malik 3 times and COAS Ashfaq Kayani 2 times.

The News

Table 5

Frequency

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	Raymond Davis Issue	1	2.1
	OBL Operation	3	6.4
	Civil & Military Aid	3	6.4
	War on Terror	22	46.8
	Salalah Attack	4	8.5
	Drone Attacks	14	29.8
	Total	47	100.0

 

 

The news also focused on the war on terror as Table 5 depicts that out of 47 cartoons, 22 cartoons are about the ongoing war on terror. The second highest score is 14 for cartoons about drone attacks inside Pakistani territory by America. The attack on Salalah depicted in four cartoons along with Abbottabad Operation and financial aid are portrayed in three cartoons.

 

 

Table 6

Active State

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	Neutral	4	8.5
	Against	43	91.5
	Total	47	100.0

 


Table 6 highlights the active state of cartoons as The News published 43 cartoons against America and only four neutral cartoons but nothing in the favor of U.S.

Table 7

Human Subject

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	Yes	11	23.4
	No	36	76.6
	Total	47	100.0

 


Fig 5.12 shows that The News uses human subjects in 11 cartoons out of 47 while 36 cartoons remain without the portrayal of any personality. These personalities are the main characters of Pak-U.S. relations and U.S. image builders inside Pakistan.

Discussion

The image of America in the world has been considered more negative than positive. Analysts argue the reason behind this is that America always works for its own interests rather than the mutual interests of allies. America does have many friend countries but most of them don't agree with America on every policy and decision. The image of the USA has been tested so many times by researchers and a lot of work has been done in this regard. Most of the studies found that the American image and the perception of the world's masses are negative so many times media of such countries follows the steps of their countrymen.

Fig 5.1 declares the policy of The Nation as it highlights the war against terror, which has been stretched over 12 years. This has very crucial impacts on this region including Pakistan. The Nation’s policy suggests that it has always been against America and because this war was started by U.S.-led NATO forces it deserves to be criticized. The Nation has surfaced this issue as much as it can be to mold the public opinion against it, which is already against it. The Nation provided coverage of the war on terror via its cartoons more than any other issue such as the issue of murder of the two Pakistan young boys by an American agent. This incident took place in Lahore on the eve of 2011. This was a significant issue and was highlighted in electronic media as well as print media, however, when it comes to cartoons, print media didn't cover this issue as it ought to be. Another important issue was the American attack in Abbottabad in which 'the most wanted terrorist' Osama Bin Laden was killed. This was also, almost, neglected by The Nation in its cartoons. This was the issue where people around the world, especially in the U.S. celebrated his death, and was considered a very important achievement of Mr. Obama's government.

Supply line for the army is a basic thing to think about for the operations on the ground same as the case with NATO think tanks. They need non-stop supplies for their forces which makes this issue very considerable but both newspapers gave less coverage to this matter. Fig 5.8 of The News tells the same story. Another important issue that was also not of high percent in published materials is the Drone attack. Many analysts criticized the U.S. drone policy as it caused the deaths of innocent people more than real terrorists in the tribal area of Pakistan. These deaths increase hatred for America not only in Pakistan but in other countries also. Now, even though, United Nations declared drone attacks against international laws and urged America to revise its policy, however, America continues the strikes.

Fig 5.3 of The Nation and Fig 5.10 of The News clearly uncover the narrative that both newspapers exposed America more negatively. A little difference between these two newspapers is that The News had very few neutral cartoons rather than in favor of America. This shows that it knows the trends inside Pakistan as most of the Pakistani public doesn't like the USA and the paper doesn't want to go against them. The News seems to be more liberal than The Nation but when it comes to America, the two papers do have almost the same policy.

Both newspapers published human cartoons of some celebrities of international scale such as American president Barak Obama, Pakistani Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani, Osama Bin Laden, Rehman Malik, and the man who has been very vibrant throughout this war Mr John Karry. But the difference is that The Nation published more human cartoons and The News focused more on non-human cartoons. The Nation criticized American celebrities and on the top was its president, which shows that they developed policies they have to be criticized as those policies have been against Pakistan and its society, however, The News published extra cartoons about drones, tanks, fighter jets and other weapons, which shows that these weapons caused casualties and damages. It didn't publish many cartoons of public figures but regardless of the number of human cartoons, one thing is common the main focus of both newspapers was Barak Obama the reason that he was assumed to be a powerful person more than any other on the face of this world.   

H1- Cartoons in The News will portray a negative image of the US than that of The Nation.

The first hypothesis shows that the researcher had assumed that The News has been a stronger critique of the U.S. than The Nation but results show the actual picture that both newspapers are on the same page in criticizing America. This hypothesis seems to be proven wrong when we check the frequency of cartoons published in the U.S. The Nation published 56 cartoons against America as compared to The News which published 43 cartoons to portray America's negative image. Several cartoons of both organizations had very strong messages against the U.S. The News portrayed America negatively as much as The Nation did; here are some examples of it:



Drone attacks have been creating problems for Pakistan as they killed innocent men, women, and children, which caused more extremism in this region. This cartoon shows a drone with an extremely hard caption calling America 'extremist'. These drones have been violating the sovereignty of Pakistan and have become one of the basic reasons for extremism. This cartoon portrays America as an extremist who is violating the sovereignty of Pakistan by using drone attacks. These attacks have killed hundreds of naïve people, despite this fact, America keeps arguing in favor of drones and openly saying that the U.S. will continue these attacks regardless of what will be the consequences.



This cartoon tells the story of the Pakistani version of the war on terror this war was started for OBL and now he is dead so this war has to be stopped but America wants to continue. The question is 'Why?' When the basic reason for this is no more then why does America keep digging into this war? Although America stated that it would pull out its forces from Afghanistan until 2014 on the other hand they have signed an agreement with Afghan president Mr. Hamid Karzai about the presence of American troops in Afghanistan for the next ten years. In this cartoon, The News tried to show that the Pakistani public is asking if OBL is gone then why American and NATO forces are still in Afghanistan. What do they want to know? Who do they want to kill next? What is their next target? This cartoon also depicts the demand of Pakistani people as they want America to leave this region because they think they have been facing terrorist attacks in the reaction of American presence. It seems America has goals beyond Osama, many scholars argue that the U.S. is here not because of OBL, America is here because of China. America wants to keep an eye on China while being in Afghanistan. A few analysts also said that America is here for Pakistan. America, intentionally, raised terrorism in this area and tried to convince the world that in this 'disturbed' region Pakistan has nuclear weapons, which is dangerous for the peace of the world as terrorists can get these weapons and use them against the West. Pakistan has become too weak to take control of nuclear arsenals, putting pressure on Pakistan to withdraw its nuclear capability.



The public sentiment towards America is that Pakistan has been seized by America on financial grounds as well as operational and administrative grounds. This cartoon highlights that sentiment showing that the Pakistani flag is being seized by an American iron ball with a chain so that Pakistan has become unable to work for its own interests against American will. Pakistan is supposed to do whatever it has been asked to do by America. The Pakistani economy is dependent on IMF, World Bank, and also American aid. IMF and World Bank are assumed to be controlled by the Americans so they interfere with Pakistan's internal financial policies otherwise Pakistan could not get a single penny from all of them or any of them. America gives civil and military financial aid to Pakistan and, in response, wants to make Pakistan do as it wants

Conclusion

Any issue can be highlighted a hundred times more effectively through cartoons than words (Rick, 2002). A cartoonist looks a little bit insightful about society. He observes things differently than an ordinary person. An issue, personality, government, and its departments can be critically analyzed in cartoons. Analysis uncovers that in the case of cartoons, The Nation portrayed U.S. negative image than The News. This study further tells that both selected newspapers gave more coverage to the "war against terrorism" than any other issue. The results of this research show that The Nation has a policy of being conservative as it showed America very negatively and criticized its policies regarding this region. On the other side, The News, which is known for its liberal policies, was assumed that this newspaper portrayed America a bit more positively than The Nation; however, The News also portrayed America negatively but with less frequency than its opponent.

The Nation was more critical as its focus was more on human cartoons as compared to The News which published more cartoons on non-human subjects. The Nation published several cartoons of American President Barack Obama and showed him as a bad guy who wants war. Barak Obama was criticized as a person as well as a policymaker. Although, The News criticized war and American policies as it published Tanks, Fighter Jets, Drones, and other weapons but did not criticize the personalities who make policies. While discussing the frequencies of variables, The Nation published more negative cartoons of the U.S. than The News. This research proves the first hypothesis wrong while the second hypothesis proves right as The Nation was way more critical than The News regarding America.

It further wrapped up that the level of being critical varies from issue to issue because of huge policy differences between the two selected newspapers. Even though The News did not publish any cartoon in American favor during the selected time period, however, it did publish a few neutral cartoons while the opposite newspaper did not publish a cartoon in American favor or neutral cartoon.

Cartooning is a difficult art and cartoonists should be more critical towards social issues and surface them more. In the case of the Pakistani media market, editors and owners of media outlets interfere with free journalism and pressurize journalists to work according to their choice, same as the case with cartoonists.  They have to work freely as much as they want to and no one should pressurize them. Editors and owners should encourage the impartial and neutral way of performing the duties of the journalists.

It was observed that several cartoons were just fillers, just ordinary criticizing or crafting propaganda; they should have some meaning, message, and purpose. Many cartoons were also observed they ignore the respect factor while discussing human personalities, actions, faiths, and beliefs of the opposite sides. The analysis of these variables is not a final word but it is only one possible research indicating how these two Pakistani newspapers of different policies portray the U.S. via cartoons. Nevertheless, results show that selected newspapers depicted the USA in a typical way and framed the issues regarding America as required by their policy and interests of the organization. The results also endorsed the Framing theory.

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