Constructing Narratives: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Media Coverage on Punjab College Rape Allegation

Media discourse is one of the powerful means of constructing narratives. This study offered a critical discourse analysis of how the media covered an alleged rape incident involving a female victim at Punjab College, Lahore. It examined how media outlets, ARY News and Geo News, discursively construct the incident, while shaping a narrative of power and marginalising the victim’s voices. The research employed a qualitative research design. Fairclough’s three-dimensional model was used to analyse the selected news reports. This analysis focused on events from October 12 to October 18, 2024, including the initial report of the rape allegation, subsequent student protests, and the government’s official response. The findings revealed that both news outlets systematically used techniques such as repetition, vague referencing, loaded/neutral sentences, assertive sentences, intertextuality, and gatekeeping. Additionally, the analysis uncovered underlying power dynamics, the marginalisation of the victim's voice, and the media's role in framing the incident as false news. The study showed that media outlets must provide balanced reporting to maintain transparency when representing controversial issues.