Agenda Setting Assessment through Framing of Health Issues in Leading Print Media of Pakistan

Abstract

This study entitles with the main theme of role of media in agenda setting on various social issues in the print media in Pakistan and then its impact on formulation of public opinion. How print media plays its role in influencing readers regarding health issues. In this research both quantitative and qualitative research methods has been applied. The Content analysis technique was applied on daily printed news content and public survey was conducted to get a relative idea. This study was aimed to investigate the agenda behind it. The researcher has formulated questionnaire as a tool to get responses of the sample that has the questions related to the issues. The headlines and first paragraph were analyzed for the results. Content analysis was based on the review of the treatment of issues published in Daily Dawn and Daily Jang. The researcher finds a positive relationship between the readers of Daily Jang and Daily Dawn, who prioritized health issue and discussion of the issue with their colleagues and friends. The comparison of the newspapers has shown that Dawn is more dedicated to health issues than Jang as per the placement of the news on the pages. It was added that 47.4% of the respondents favored the actions taken by the government to overcome the health issues while, 44.7% disagreed. The results indicated that there was no significant relationship between the male and female respondents when they were asked about the promotion of agenda by the government in Daily Dawn. Majority of the respondents were of the view that Daily Dawn was promoting the government agenda and was not giving its consideration to the public agenda. It meant, the Dawn in Pakistan was d