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Correlation Between Newspapers’ Agenda and Public Agenda on National Issues during General Elections 2013 in Pakistan

Received: 9 August 2016    Accepted: 20 August 2016    Published: 5 September 2016
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Abstract

This article looks into the position of agenda-setting of national press primarily focusing on national issues of vital importance during the phase of Parliamentary General Elections 2013 in Pakistan. The study finds the correlation between news papers’ agenda and public agenda, examining the influence of national press on public perception on the issue of salience by using triangulation; media agenda on ten national issues of top priority has been explored i.e. US-drone attacks, economic crisis, corruption, Indo-Pak relations, terrorism, energy crisis, Pak-Taliban talks, education, unemployment and health, at the front and back pages of three leading national popular daily Urdu Newspapers of Pakistan. Public agenda is scrutinized by survey research from 600 respondents, to explore what public perceive about these most important issues? The finding of this study reveals a moderate positive correlation between media agenda and public agenda. Hence, a significant positive correlation exists only on four out of ten national issues i.e. terrorism, energy crisis, US-drone attacks, and economic crisis. It is inferred that agenda setting of the press is dominant over plurality of public voice. This study has the strategic and policy implications.

Published in International Journal of Journalism and Communication (Volume 1, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijjc.20160101.12
Page(s) 1-10
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Freedom of Press, Media Agenda, Public Agenda, National Press, National Issues, Pakistan

References
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  • APA Style

    Mudassar Hussain Shah, Muhammad Yaqoub, Saima Kausar, Ashok Kumar. (2016). Correlation Between Newspapers’ Agenda and Public Agenda on National Issues during General Elections 2013 in Pakistan. International Journal of Journalism and Communication, 1(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijjc.20160101.12

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    ACS Style

    Mudassar Hussain Shah; Muhammad Yaqoub; Saima Kausar; Ashok Kumar. Correlation Between Newspapers’ Agenda and Public Agenda on National Issues during General Elections 2013 in Pakistan. Int. J. Journalism Commun. 2016, 1(1), 1-10. doi: 10.11648/j.ijjc.20160101.12

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    AMA Style

    Mudassar Hussain Shah, Muhammad Yaqoub, Saima Kausar, Ashok Kumar. Correlation Between Newspapers’ Agenda and Public Agenda on National Issues during General Elections 2013 in Pakistan. Int J Journalism Commun. 2016;1(1):1-10. doi: 10.11648/j.ijjc.20160101.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijjc.20160101.12,
      author = {Mudassar Hussain Shah and Muhammad Yaqoub and Saima Kausar and Ashok Kumar},
      title = {Correlation Between Newspapers’ Agenda and Public Agenda on National Issues during General Elections 2013 in Pakistan},
      journal = {International Journal of Journalism and Communication},
      volume = {1},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-10},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijjc.20160101.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijjc.20160101.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijjc.20160101.12},
      abstract = {This article looks into the position of agenda-setting of national press primarily focusing on national issues of vital importance during the phase of Parliamentary General Elections 2013 in Pakistan. The study finds the correlation between news papers’ agenda and public agenda, examining the influence of national press on public perception on the issue of salience by using triangulation; media agenda on ten national issues of top priority has been explored i.e. US-drone attacks, economic crisis, corruption, Indo-Pak relations, terrorism, energy crisis, Pak-Taliban talks, education, unemployment and health, at the front and back pages of three leading national popular daily Urdu Newspapers of Pakistan. Public agenda is scrutinized by survey research from 600 respondents, to explore what public perceive about these most important issues? The finding of this study reveals a moderate positive correlation between media agenda and public agenda. Hence, a significant positive correlation exists only on four out of ten national issues i.e. terrorism, energy crisis, US-drone attacks, and economic crisis. It is inferred that agenda setting of the press is dominant over plurality of public voice. This study has the strategic and policy implications.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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    T1  - Correlation Between Newspapers’ Agenda and Public Agenda on National Issues during General Elections 2013 in Pakistan
    AU  - Mudassar Hussain Shah
    AU  - Muhammad Yaqoub
    AU  - Saima Kausar
    AU  - Ashok Kumar
    Y1  - 2016/09/05
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijjc.20160101.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijjc.20160101.12
    T2  - International Journal of Journalism and Communication
    JF  - International Journal of Journalism and Communication
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    AB  - This article looks into the position of agenda-setting of national press primarily focusing on national issues of vital importance during the phase of Parliamentary General Elections 2013 in Pakistan. The study finds the correlation between news papers’ agenda and public agenda, examining the influence of national press on public perception on the issue of salience by using triangulation; media agenda on ten national issues of top priority has been explored i.e. US-drone attacks, economic crisis, corruption, Indo-Pak relations, terrorism, energy crisis, Pak-Taliban talks, education, unemployment and health, at the front and back pages of three leading national popular daily Urdu Newspapers of Pakistan. Public agenda is scrutinized by survey research from 600 respondents, to explore what public perceive about these most important issues? The finding of this study reveals a moderate positive correlation between media agenda and public agenda. Hence, a significant positive correlation exists only on four out of ten national issues i.e. terrorism, energy crisis, US-drone attacks, and economic crisis. It is inferred that agenda setting of the press is dominant over plurality of public voice. This study has the strategic and policy implications.
    VL  - 1
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Author Information
  • Department of Communication Studies, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan

  • Department of Media and Communication, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Mass Communication, Queen Mary College, Lahore, Pakistan

  • College of International Education, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

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