Media and Public Agenda on the National Issues in Pakistan

There is a moderate positive correlation between media agenda and public agenda on overall ten main national issues—'terrorism', 'energy crisis', 'economic crisis', 'corruption', 'Indo-Pak relations', 'US-Drone attacks', 'Pak-Taliban talks', 'education', 'unemployment' and 'health' during the phase of Parliamentary General Elections 2013 in Pakistan. On the other hand, it is found a significant strong positive correlation only on four out of ten national issues-'terrorism', 'energy crisis', 'US-drone attacks', and 'economic crisis' within media agenda and public agenda. Among all national issues-'terrorism' is considered significantly correlated in media agenda and public agenda. To explore the media agenda on national issues, the coverage of national press about the most important ten issues is examined through content analysis at the front and back pages of three leading national popular Urdu dailies of Pakistan; Jang, Nawa-i-Waqt and Express whereas public perception is evaluated through opinion surveys from 300 respondents.