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How We Know What We Know about Pakistan: New York Times news production, 1954–71

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2017

YELENA BIBERMAN
YELENA BIBERMAN*
Affiliation:
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, United States of America Email: ybiberma@skidmore.edu
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Abstract

This article explores public knowledge creation by examining how the New York Times produced Pakistan news between 1954 and 1971, the formative period of United States of America (USA)–Pakistan relations. These years encapsulate not only the heyday of cooperation between the two governments, but also the American public's first major introduction to the South Asian country by the increasingly intrepid news media. A leader in shaping that introduction was the New York Times. While most studies of the American media focus on measuring the effect of news exposure and content on public opinion, this article focuses on the theoretically underexplored aspect of news production: foreign news gathering. With a lens on South Asia, it shows that foreign news gathering involves the straddling of on-the-ground political and logistical constraints that generate an atmosphere of high uncertainty. By exploring the limitations on news gathering faced by America's leading newspaper's foreign correspondents in Pakistan in the 1950s and 1960s, this article identifies an important historical source of the ambiguity characterizing USA–Pakistan relations. The findings are based on recently released archival material that offers rare insight into the news-production process.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 5 , September 2017 , pp. 1598 - 1625
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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References

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39 Rosenthal's remarks are supported by the quality of his reporting. For example, in ‘Pakistan faces threat to unity’ (14 April 1957), the correspondent bases his observations on a wide range of voices—from political leaders to ordinary citizens.

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43 Ibid.

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89 Ibid.

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