Towards a more responsible press

The article analyses Pakistan’s newspapers’ performance with regard to civil society in 2003 by using content analysis approach.  There is no gainsaying that a strong civil society guarantees a strong democracy.  In Pakistan, spells of military rule have stunted the growth of democracy, adversely affecting civil society. Media too has suffered as a result.  Normative theories of media call for laying down norms and conventions for media.  In democracy, all sections of society should be represented in media. In Pakistan’s case, due to military regimes and quasi democratic governments, combined with the demands of market economy, the media have largely not been able to fulfill this responsibility towards society. Social Responsibility demands that the media must fulfill its responsibility towards society, while giving a free space to all voices of society. In Pakistan, whether newspapers played that role in 2003 when civil society had accelerated its campaign to end honor killings and crimes against women is investigated. The findings show that newspapers did support civil society, showing a gradual movement towards a more responsible press.     &nbsp

Imbibing Pluralism? Analysis of Pakistan’s Press

The article examines Pakistan’s press’ role in the development of democracy in the period of a military regime in 2002.  It does so by analyzing the newspapers’ coverage of civil society, which is the main factor in the nourishment of democracy in a country, by using content analysis technique. The article tries to find the direction of coverage given to civil society. In Pakistan, democracy is struggling because of bouts of military rule since its inception in 1947.  As a side effect, media has tended to follow the military   establishment and its political cohorts. Libertarian theorists say media should give space to every segment of society, whereas the proponents of Social Responsibility Model advocates that media should self-regulate with the aim to fulfill its responsibility towards society by laying emphasis on pluralism. Findings show that the press in the period under study gave supportive coverage to civil society, proving its movement towards pluralism and Social Responsibility, even under an authoritarian regime.      &nbsp

New Media Versus Old Media: A Case of Pakistan

The article analyzes the way Noble Laureate  Malala Yousafzai, a campaigner for women education in Swat, in northern Pakistan, who was attacked by the militants, was portrayed  by Facebook users in Pakistan. The attack on Malala Yousafzai drew strong reaction from majority population in the country and the international community. It was widely condemned by the mainstream media in the country. However, after the initial outpouring of anger, different conspiracy theories started emerging, casting aspersions on Malala Yousafzai, mostly appearing in the social media, bringing the new form of media as public sphere in Pakistan to the forefront. To understand that, content analysis of picture posts on the sampled Facebook pages, dividing into 1) pictures, 2) captions and 3) text, under categories of favorable and unfavorable, has been done to know how Malala was projected. The findings are that picture posts were equal in categories of favorable and unfavorable, showing not an overwhelming bias against Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan’s social media. Keywords: Malala, Facebook, picture posts, extremists, education, foreign agen

ICTs in Learning in Pakistan

The paper investigates the barriers to the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) at the secondary level learning in Pakistan, with focus on Punjab province. Exploring major barriers to the integration of ICTs at the school level, teacher level and student level and possible enablers to these barriers is the major focus of study. Sequential mixed method design is used. Interviews were analysed qualitatively whereas survey questionnaire were analysed quantitatively. It is observed from the findings that most of the participants are having positive perceptions about the integration of ICT into their teaching and learning. Administrators and ICT coordinators revealed many barriers and possible enablers to the integration of ICTs. Many of these barriers are verified by the teachers and students later on however there were some barriers which were not endorsed by the teachers and students.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v1i2.124

The Performance of Press During Women Movement in Pakistan

The article examines the performance of press in Pakistan with regard to the issues central to women status in society. In Pakistan, the movement for women rights was at its peak during the days of military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq whose politically motivated Islamization, particularly targeted women in the country. Pakistan’s women activists challenged him by coming on the streets in 1983. The protest opened a new chapter in the struggle for women emancipation in Pakistan. The article analyses the coverage of four newspapers, two under the government–controlled National Press Trust and two independent, including the Muslim (now closed), to know about the trajectory Pakistan’s press had adopted. This historical case study provides a view of the trend of newspapers with regard to gender issues in Pakistan and offers a reference to judge the performance of present day media with respect to the issue of women. The articles includes a background of the women movement, organizations and the 1983 protest itself before analyzing the coverage of the press, ending in conclusion. The article analyzes the press and women issues in the backdrop of the harsh political climate that exists in Pakistan

Media Reliance and Information Seeking Habits of Pakistani Millennial

The mushroomed growth of private news TV channels and speedydiffusion of social media in Pakistan has provided many options forthe Pakistani youth to get information from different media sources.This study explores primary information sources of Pakistani youth,their information seeking habits, media reliance and believability onthe medium. The data collected through survey method suggeststhat the primary source of the majority of Pakistani youth is socialmedia as they consider it to be more credible than the mainstreammedia. They primarily use social media to seek politicalinformation. The findings of this study suggest the policy makers,advertisers, media strategists, political parties and media contentproducers to be vigilant for media consultation and consumptionpatterns among youth