PAKISTAN’S SMOG CRISIS IN BRITISH MEDIA: THE ROLE OF VISUALS

Abstract

The present research has studied the semiotics of the two western media outlets i.e BBC and The New York Times related to Pakistan’s recent Smog crisis.These semiotics have been studied with the intention of deciphering their embedded  messages/ideologies , along with decoding the semiotic tools that have used to represent these images in certain manner.Critical Discourse Analysis has been done to evaluate the selected images through the theoretical framework of Multi Modal Critical Discourse Analysis by Machin (2007). This methodology gives an elaborate toolkit to study the selected images. The findings of the research revealed their ideological messages and the differences in the representational styles of both media outlets. In BBC images, more focus has been imparted towards highlighting the general plight of the public and the images have shown generalized groups  as well individuals from poor classes. They want to foreground the misery of poor sections overall.The New York Times has presented a more grimmer and darker picture of Pakistan’s  smog crisis.They compared the smog crisis and lockdown measures to that of COVID-19. The semiotics chosen by them portrayed the same intensity and horrifying scenarios as during Covid-19. The images were highly modulated with dark saturated colors and tones to indicate deeper moods and tones .The dark tones are connotative of depression and hopelessness. Another significant difference is the usage of Children and women images. They are depicted to show more vulnerability and innocence.Their ideology has more negative portrayal as compared to that of BBC.