Pre-Election Political Campaigns Covered by Pakistani TV Channels: A Content Analysis

Abstract

This research analyzes the political coverage by Pakistani News Channel before the general election 2013. The prime time of the channels for one month was selected for supervising, examining and organizing determinations of coverage of general elections under the code of conduct and procedure of coverage set by regulators. The researcher conducted content analysis of prime time which includes headlines of news bulletin, talk shows and issued addressed in program content broadcast on TV channels. Results of the study showed that all news channels failed to fulfill the fundamental obsessions of impartial balance and reasonable reporting. Because of the indistinct and insufficient necessities of ECP regarding rules of ethics for media, the portion of airtime on electronic media was exceptionally discriminating. In this study as the analysis showed the conduct of the elections, though having eminent place in the state news plan, it devastatingly explained the major political parties.