CSCR Research Data media Monitoring on solidarity day by Team CSCR

Research Brief www.cscr.pk Introduction

Kashmir Solidarity Day or Kashmir Day, is a national holiday in , also observed by Kashmiri freedom fighters on 5th February each year. It is in observance of Pakistan’s support of and unity with the people of Indian-held Kashmir, the Kashmiri struggle to rid itself of , and to pay homage to the who have lost their lives in the skirmish. Solidarity rallies are held in , Pakistan and around the world.

The latest uprising in Indian-held Kashmir sparked by the killing of the Kashmiri youth-leader has elicited widespread condemnation by both the Pakistani government as well as the general public. The mainstream media channels that have mushroomed in the recent past have also played their part in promoting the Kashmiri cause. However, of late there have been assertions that the mainstream media has not shown much interest in upholding the Kashmiri cause.

Research Methodology:

A descriptive research study was undertaken by the Center for Strategic and Contemporary Research (CSCR) in order to highlight the coverage given to Kashmir on 5th February, 2017. Research forms were distributed among a team of observers who examined a select group of the top 11 news channels of Pakistan with instructions to record the number of select terms such as Kashmir, , Panama, India etc. The study was undertaken during the Prime Time i.e. 1900 hours to 2300 hours. The hour of 2100 hours were excluded.

Limitations:

The study was limited by time period, as it could only observe the channels under study for four hours. This study, under these circumstances cannot be used as a performance evaluation of the channels in question. It also could not take into account special programs aired in other parts of the day not falling in the assigned parameters. The other limitation is that it cannot be taken as a means to generalize the entire Pakistani media, as only a restricted number of channels were selected and a major portion of Pakistani news channels were omitted.

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Information:

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The above given information concludes that Bol leads the entire collection of selected channels, followed by government owned PTV. Dawn News and Neo News were third in most references to Kashmir on Kashmir Day, 2017. The two channels, ARY and Express are conspicuous in having no specific mention of Kashmir on 5th February 2017 in Prime Time. In the 7:00 slot, the leading program was Kashmir Report on PTV News with 102 mentions. In the 8:00 slot, ‘@Q’ on Neo TV led the programs in referencing Kashmir. In the 10:00 slot, insight on Waqt News hosted by Saleem Bukhari has the most mentions while Bol TV’s ‘Aisay Nahi Chalayga’ hosted by Dr. Aamir Liaquat referenced Kashmir the most in the 11:00 slot.

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