Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism

There has been a great deal of controversy and speculation about the impact of the Internet and related digital media on traditional media, particularly television. Some have predicted—and sometimes purport to have discovered—a sharp decline in use of traditional media in general and television viewing in particular. Obviously, confirmation of the future awaits the passage of time. However, data of excellent quality and undeniable pertinence exist that identify the likely future pattern. Three representative national surveys of 8-18 year olds-- each about five years apart-- report on comprehensive media use in the United States. At the time of the first (1999), Internet use was well underway. By the time of the second (2004), Internet use had reached a high state of development, and by the time of the third (2009), wireless broadband was widely available for use in handheld devices, tablet computers, and portable laptops. Between 1999 and 2009, time spent on the Internet more than tripled (3.6x) and new uses, not significant at the time of the first survey, appeared by the second and third surveys. However, traditional media— screen, audio, print—did not see the drastic decreases many had expected. Instead, total time devoted to television content increased considerably, but real differences in how that content is being accessed have emerged.

Photojournalism occupies very important place in media in this digital age of communication. Since the picture is most effective tool of communication, it conveys meaning in the most attractive and truthful manner. At the same time, it is very often exploited for the selfish ends of the media organization irrespective of the values and norms of the society. It not only goes against the values and norms of the society but it also depicts in picture the vice and immoralities in attractive manner. This paper explores the practices and preferences of Pakistani print media in the flourishing field of photojournalism. For the purpose, front pages of three leading Urdu newspapers The Daily Jang, Express and Nawa-e-Waqt were selected to measure the nature of photojournalism in print media. The researchers selected four major events of suicide attacks in the years 2007, 2010 and 2011. These bloodiest events covered by newspapers extensively with images and body parts of victims on front pages. To catch maximum readership the print media frequently displayed bloody and violent terrorize images of the victims in suicide attacks, bomb blasts, firings and accidents on front pages. These newspapers did not consider ethical codes as an important and essential component for photojournalism.

The main objective of this research study is to investigate as to how the image of President Zardari is being presented in the print media discourses. The media in Pakistan is enjoying a free environment after a long martial law of President musharraf. The Jang group is a leading group having media outlets in the field of print as well as in electronic. The Jang group, in general, has a biased perception and involved in an anti government media campaign since the government took over in 2008. Since the Pakistani media has been enjoying a powerful status as a main stake holder to make or to topple down any government. Pressure groups mend and mould the media agenda if it is contrary to their news agenda through some media groups. Further this study should be analyzed in the context of the interests of some big powers which influence and shape news agenda of poor countries and specially after 9/11 there has been a paradigm shift in the world’s media. In this context the media coverage in Pakistan shows that the President Zardari has portrayed negatively in most of the print media outlets of Jang group. Most of the editorials in leading newspapers portrayed President Zardari as corrupt, untrustworthy, disloyal, criminal and dishonest by undermining his political status and political achievements. This paper discusses the difference of portrayal of his image in two leading English language newspapers of different groups - The News and Dawn. The News belongs to Jang group while The Dawn owned by Herald publications Ltd. The researcher explores the trend by using framing and priming theories. Editorials of these two Pakistani newspapers published from Nov, 2009 to Jan 2010 were selected. Altogether, 180 editorials were read out from these two newspapers, 37 editorials from The News and 26 editorials from The Dawn were found relevant to the issue of NRO with special reference to Mr. Zardari. The paper concludes that The News constructs a biased and negative image of President Zardari by its speculative language, tone and representation while writing on NRO in the editorial discourses Dawn reflects the same issue in neutral and balanced way.