Effects of Cable Television on Women in Pakistan: A
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EFFECTS OF CABLE TELEVISION ON WOMEN IN PAKISTAN: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HEAVY A ND LIGHT VIEWERS IN LAHORE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO LAHORE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN UNIVERSITY IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN MASS COMMUNICATION ANJUM ZIA DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION LAHORE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN UNIVERSITY, LAHORE, PAKISTAN 2007 To My Beloved Father G. D. ZIA I’m here just because of his blissful love, always showered on me and his continuous encouragement at every step of my life, he tau ght me to pay respect to humanity and to love all. DECLARATION I, Anjum Zia, hereby declare that the matter printed in this thesis is my origin al work and has been carried out under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Mughees-ud-D in, Director Institute of Communication Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahor e. To the best of my knowledge, this thesis does not contain any material that h as been submitted for the award of any other degree in any other university, nei ther does this thesis contain any material published or written previously by an y other person, except in the text for which due references are given. Anjum Zia CERTIFICATE It is hereby certified that the thesis entitled “Effects of Cable Television on Wo men in Pakistan: A Comparative Study of Heavy and Light Viewers in Lahore” is base d on original work carried out by Anjum Zia and that has not been previously pre sented for the higher degree. Anjum Zia has done her work under my direct superv ision. She has fulfilled all the requirements and is qualified to submit the acc ompanying thesis according to the prescribed format for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mass Communication. Professor Dr. Mughees-ud-Din Supervisor EFFECTS OF CABLE TELEVISION ON WOMEN IN PAKISTAN: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HEAVY A ND LIGHT VIEWERS IN LAHORE DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION LAHORE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN UNIVERSITY LAHORE, PAK ISTAN 2007 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank Allah Almighty for giving me strength and the opportunity to complete th is research despite my arduous office work, and continuous personal obligations. Several times during the study my will to complete it broke. But every time I l ost heart, something pushed me up from within. And this was nothing but the bles sings of Allah. I was fortunate to have worthy Dr Mughees-ud-Din, Director, Inst itute of Communication Studies, University of Punjab, Lahore, as my supervisor. Dr Mughees is known the world over for his enriched knowledge of the subject tha t had inculcated in me a constant, forbearing and perfect guidance. Simply speak ing this study has only been completed owing to his guidance based on his global exposure to the mass communication studies. Had he not been there, I may not ha ve even a slightest idea of what a research for PhD is about. I am greatly indeb ted to you sir for guiding me through. I profoundly thank Prof Dr Bushra Mateen, Vice-chancellor, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, the light under w hich I dared to think of conducting the research, and struggled to complete it. Her valuable help and gracious cooperation instilled in me the spirit to fight t he odds that were numerous. I humbly thank you madam for affording an opportunit y to aspire for the highest academic degree through this study. I am also extrem ely grateful to Miss Shaista Vine, Registrar LCWU, for her patronage and affecti on that always serve as a shelter for me. Prof. Dr Kousar J. Cheema, Director, R esearch and Ph.D, LCWU extend an endless help, which I took as much as I could w ithout fear of any reluctance. I am also grateful to Dr. Farhat Saleemi, Dean of Management Sciences and Mrs. Riffat Saqlain, Dean of Social Sciences, LCWU, for their support and encouragement. I acknowledge Dr Muhammad Anwer, former Chairm an, Department of Sociology, University of the Punjab, Lahore for his advice, co nstructive comments and support. His kind involvement gave me the knowledge that will continue to benefit me all my life. I thank him for the kindness towards m e. I am also obliged and deeply indebted to senior journalist Intikhab Hanif (My MA. Fellow) for sparing much of his valuable time for me. His bright ideas base d on his visits to media houses and schools of journalism in the USA and Japan, and his rich experience proved an invaluable asset for shaping up my mind and co mpleting this research. His biggest support came at the time of writing this the sis, and the hours of editing are endless. I am grateful to him for his kindness . ii Those who supported me are numerous and I cannot mention them here for constrain ts of space. But it would be an injustice to miss Prof. Shahid Habib, renowned e ditor and reviewer of books and films, Ahmed Nadeem, (a family friend), Dr. Syed Abdul Siraj, Chairman, Department of Mass Communication, Allama Iqbal Open Univ ersity, Islamabad, Idrees Mohammad, Naib Nazam, Lahore, Farooq Ahmed (My M. Phil fellow), Sara Ali Khan, lecturer, IBIT, PU, the young girls who worked as inter viewers (Fatima, Sharif, Dur e Ajum, Sonia Saleem, Mariam Pervaiz , Nadia and Ra bia Khan), Waleed Saqib, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), Mehnaz (Depar tment of Statistics, LCWU), my colleagues at Department of Mass Communication, LCWU, Manzar, Aftab and Shahid, LCWU, Mohammad Shafiq, daily ‘The N ews’ Khuram and Ibrar from PEMRA etc. Lastly, I am also thankful to my mother in l aw, Mazhar, my brother in law and Ayesha, sister in law for the love and support at home which helped me to concentrate on my work. I warmly thank my mother, Sh ams, my brother, Aisha, my sister, Hamza, my nephew, Sehrish, my niece, Shuja, m y cousin. The words would be short in their meanings to explain the discomfort c aused to my husband Munzir Elahi as well as the emotional pain which both my chi ldren Zain and Zeerak went through during the course of this study. I deeply reg ret however without their support this research would not be what it is now. My extreme thanks for their unflinching support. Anjum Zia iii ABSTRACT This study investigates the “effects of cable television on the life patterns of w omen in Lahore, Pakistan” through survey using interviews’ schedule as a tool of dat a collection. It targeted 432 women aged 18-40 years and viewing cable televisio n for a minimum two years. The study recorded the respondent’s consumption pattern s, level of viewing, preferred channels and programs, favorite watching time, co ntrol over remote and restrictions on viewing. It crossed checked the above factors with the level of viewing alongwith demographic characteristics of the respondents. The major hypo thesis studied was “greater the exposure to cable television greater the impact on the lives of women.” The sub-hypothesis included ‘heavy viewers have greater effect on their activities, family and social interaction patterns, cultural practices , domestic and personal expenditure, and they are more influenced by the televis ion characters especially depicting western and urban Indian women than the mode rate and light viewers. The data was analyzed through univariate and bivariate s tatistical procedures and the results are presented in two categories: i.e. gene ral and major findings of hypothesis testing. The general findings revealed that the majority of respondents were aged 31 to 40 years, belonged to the middle an d upper middle class, were graduates but unemployed, and were heavy viewers. Maj ority respondents had cable connection for the last two years, indicating increa sing popularity of cable television in Lahore, also making it the main source of entertainment. There is no link between demographic characteristics and consump tion patterns. However, the respondents complained that men had more rights to w atch cable television than women. The statistical test chi-square was applied fo r testing the hypothesis, confirming that ‘greater the exposure to cable televisio n greater the effect on the lives of women’. It confirmed that heavy viewing affec ted household and other activities of the women like newspaper reading, going to cinema, the meals cooking and serving schedule, their domestic or personal expe nditure and interaction with friends or and relatives. They were prone to accept ing the role, culture and lifestyle of western and Indian women watched on the c able channels. The study also identified a few areas for future researchers and made recommendations towards their improvement. iv ACRONYMS / ABBREVIATIONS AJK TV ABCTV CNN CATV CD Channels DD DTH LMDS LH Category MATV MMDS NICT NEC NWF P Pakistan) PBC PTA PEMRA PTV STN SPSS UNESCO Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Author ity. Pakistan Television Corporation Shalimar Television Network Statistical Pac kage for the Social Science United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural O rganization. VCTC VTR Viewer Controlled Cable Television Video Tape Recorder Aza d Jammu Kashmir Television Australian Broadcasting Commission Television Cable N ews Network Community Antenna Television). Compact Disk Channels Door Darshan (I ndian Television) Direct To Home Local Multipoint Distribution Service Loop-Line Holder Category Master Antenna Television Multi-Channel Multipoint Distribution System New Information/Communication Technologies Nippon Electrical Company Nor th Wrest Frontier Province (one of the province f v TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement Abstract Abbreviations Table of Contents List of Tables List of Figures List of Appendices i iii iv v viii xi xii 1 2 2 3