Pakistani Elite Press and Public Agenda: The Case of Women Social Issues

Abstract

This study attempts to find the correlation between the coverage of social issues of women by Pakistani elite press and the preferences of its readers regarding the coverage. The results show that Pakistani elite press has its own policy to give space and prominence by covering social issues of women in its contents and its readers are not agreed with its policy. The policy adopted by both dailies is different from each other. The News did not give more space and prominence to the issues in its coverage. The issues of murder and rape are on the top in the list of the agenda of The News. On the other hand, The daily Dawn has a policy to highlight the issues by covering them with more space and prominence. The issues of murder and women rights are on the top in the list of the agenda of Dawn. While in perspective of audience characteristics, the readers those higher in age, education, belong to social sciences, female, and married comparatively have more correspondence with the agenda of the dailies. The issues of murder, rape, and women rights have received maximum coverage by Pakistani elite press in overall coverage.

Keywords: Elite, Newspapers, Women, Social, Issues, Dawn, News