INDIVIDUAL‘S PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE CREDIBILITY OF SOCIAL AND TRADITIONAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON MEDIA PREFERENCE IN PAKISTAN A THESIS SUBMITTED TO BEACONHOUSE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN MASS COMMUNICATION WAJID ZULQARNAIN Reg No.F2013-135 Supervisor PROF. DR. TAIMUR UL HASSAN SCHOOL OF MEDIA & MASS COMMUNICATION BEACONHOUSE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, LAHORE, PAKISTAN 2013-2016 1 Credibility of Social and Traditional Media in Pakistan ii Dedication Dedicated to those who pushed me or pulled me, loved me or left me, hurt me or helped me, who are all part of my progress. I "thank you all"! Credibility of Social and Traditional Media in Pakistan iii Declaration I, Wajid Zulqarnain, hereby declare that the matter printed in this thesis is my original work and has been carried out under the supervision of Prof Dr. Taimur ul Hassan, Dean, School of Media and Communication, Beacon House National University, Lahore. To the best of my knowledge, this thesis does not contain any material that has been submitted for the award of any other degree in any other university, neither does this thesis contain any material published or written previously by any other person, except in the text for which due references are given. Wajid Zulqarnain Credibility of Social and Traditional Media in Pakistan iv Certificate It is hereby certified that the thesis entitled ―Individual‘s Perceptions about the Credibility of Social and Traditional Media and its Impact on Media Preference in Pakistan‖ is based on original work carried out by Wajid Zulqarnain that has not been previously presented for the higher degree. Wajid Zulqarnain has done his work under my direct supervision. He has fulfilled all the requirements and is qualified to submit the accompanying thesis according to the prescribed format for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mass Communication. Supervisor Prof Dr. Taimur ul Hassan Credibility of Social and Traditional Media in Pakistan v INDIVIDUAL‘S PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE CREDIBILITY OF SOCIAL AND TRADITIONAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON MEDIA PREFERENCE IN PAKISTAN SCHOOL OF MEDIA &MASS COMMUNICATION BEACONHOUSE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, LAHORE, PAKISTAN 2013-2016 Credibility of Social and Traditional Media in Pakistan vi Acknowledgment I thank Allah Almighty for giving me strength and the opportunity to complete this research despite my arduous office work, and continuous personal obligations. I was fortunate to have worthy Prof. Dr. Taimur ul Hassan, as my supervisor. Dr. Taimur supported me at every step, starting from topic selection till completion. His knowledge and expertise in Media studies helped me in completing my thesis within time frame. This would not be possible with his tremendous efforts and appreciation. My supervisor remained with me throughout this wisdom journey and I never felt alone. He accompanied me through every trial and consolidated me at every step. Dr. Taimur has been tremendous mentor for me. I would like to thank him for encouraging my research and for allowing me to grow as a research. His advice on both research as well as on my career have been priceless. Undertaking this PhD has been a truly life-changing experience for me and it would not have been possible to do without the support and guidance that I received from many people. I am also very grateful to my friends especially Mr. Atif Bilal and to all those at the SZABIST Media Sciences Islamabad office, Ms. Iffat Ali, Ms. Amna Zareef, Ms. Aisha Javed, Ms. Komal Ahmed, Waseem Ghafoor and Mr. Naveed Ullah Hashmi and most importantly my family Fari Syed, Erum Akram, Shumaila Kauser, Kainat Shahid, Arifa Batool, Qandeel Kazmi and others who were always so helpful and provided me with their assistance throughout my dissertation. Wajid Zulqarnain Credibility of Social and Traditional Media in Pakistan vii Abstract Mass media are ubiquitous these days, and no one can deny its importance. Journalism and the news media are built on credibility and the concept of media credibility is related to the more general concept of trust, which generates an individual perception. Taking the dire need and importance of media the main aim of the study is to investigate the relationship of traditional and social media credibility on traditional and social media preference through the mediating role of individual perception about media. Furthermore, the moderating role of traditional and social media usage and gender are also investigated in the study. The data has been collected from the students (N= 1383) of seven metropolitan cities of Pakistan i.e. Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit Baltistan. The data has been collected using a survey based questionnaires. The data has been analyzed statistically, using SPSS. The reliability and validity tests were applied to validate the instrument. Statistical analysis like correlation, regression and bootstrapping were used to test the direct and indirect hypotheses. The findings indicate that traditional and social media credibility has a direct and positive relationship with individual perception and traditional and social media preference. Additionally, the individual perception mediates the relationship between the traditional and social media credibility and traditional media preference. Moreover, the moderation analysis shows that Social and traditional media usage moderates the relationship between Social and traditional media credibility and individual perception. The moderation analysis of gender between different variables also provided some interesting insight. The results indicate that in male media users the relationship is stronger than the female media users. The relationship between traditional media credibility and individual perception and Credibility of Social and Traditional Media in Pakistan viii predicted that the male has a stronger relationship. The results found a higher level of individual perception in male media users than female media users. Pakistan is a developing country where private news media and the social media networks are growing rapidly. In such situations, understanding about the individual's perceptions with reference to the media credibility and media preferences are becoming more complex. The present study adds to the body of knowledge in the area of media credibility and individual perception in Pakistan. Keywords: Credibility, Social Media, Traditional Media, Media Preference, Individual Perception Credibility of Social and Traditional Media in Pakistan ix ACRONYMS / ABBREVIATIONS BBC British Broadcasting Cooperation CNN Cable News Network FM Frequency Modulation ICT Information and communication technology IP Individual Perception ISPR Inter-Services Public Relations JI Jamat-e-Islami PEMRA Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority. PPP Pakistan People‘s Party PRC Pew Research Center PTI Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf PTV Pakistan Television Corporation SMC Social Media Credibility SMP Social Media Preference SMU Social Media Usage STN Shalimar Television Network TMC Traditional Media Credibility TMP Traditional Media Preference TMU Traditional Media Usage VCR Video Cassette Recorder Credibility of Social and Traditional Media in Pakistan x Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 2 1.1 New Media Research .................................................................................. 4 1.2 Media Credibility ....................................................................................... 8 1.2.1 Constituents of Credibility ......................................................................... 8 1.2.2 Perception of credibility towards traditional vs social media .................. 9 1.3 Significance of the Study ........................................................................... 11 1.4 Problem Statement .................................................................................... 12 1.5 Research Objectives: ................................................................................. 13 1.6 Research Questions ................................................................................... 14 1.7 Social Media in Pakistan ........................................................................... 15 1.8 Types of Social Media ................................................................................ 17 1.8.1 Facebook ................................................................................................... 18 1.8.2 Twitter ................................................................................................... 19 1.8.3 LinkedIn ................................................................................................... 20 1.8.4 YouTube ................................................................................................... 20 1.8.5 Patterns of Social Media Users in Pakistan .............................................. 21 1.9 Traditional Media in Pakistan .................................................................. 23 1.9.1 Newspaper .................................................................................................. 24 1.9.2 Magazine: ................................................................................................... 26 1.9.3 Radio ................................................................................................... 26 1.9.4 Pakistan Television as State Channel ......................................................