Soft Strategic Depth: Concept of Media Corridor Between Pakistan and Central Asia

Abstract

This thesis presents an exhaustive review of the media environment and suggests a direction for the development of a Media Corridor between Pakistan and the Central Asian States. Since Independence Day the CARs have acquired the attention of regional and global powers because geographically this region has locked but very rich in oil and natural resources. Especially Pakistan and Central Asia have a common history, culture, religion, and agriculture. Their friendly relations are reflected in policy statements delivered by the Government’s officials who are appearing in the national and international media. Theoretically, the Media can affect foreign policies through its agenda setting, agenda reflecting and agenda building policies. According to the different studies that the role of media has been less debated but this study makes an endeavor to fill up these gaps, moreover, in this research, the researcher has focused to develop a concept of “Media Corridor” between Pakistan and the Central Asian States. The objectives of this study are to find out the possible media’s role in strengthening the relationship between Pakistan and Central Asia and to explore the prospects and challenges for developing a suggested Media Corridor between Pakistan and Central Asia. The main purpose of this research is to identify the obstacles and opportunities in relations between Media organizations and peoples belong to Media Houses in Pakistan and Central Asia. For this study, the researcher has opted for a qualitative methodology in which the 10 in-depth interviews (IDI) have been conducted for this study. Three of them with the media experts, six interviews with academic professors (two of them from Uzbekistan), and one with the Press Secretary from the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Islamabad. The agenda-setting theory has been applied to the theoretical perspective of the research. The key conclusion is that the media in both ends instead of playing a very important role in building the relationship between Pakistan and the Central Asian States follows the official narrative of the governments. For this purpose, the researcher concludes with the arguments that there is a die need to develop a Media Corridor in between Pakistan and the Central Asian States.