Sensationalizing the News Events by Pakistani Media

Current study "Sensationalizing the News Events by Pakistani Media" investigates the trend of sensationalising news reporting through content analysis as tool of inquiry. The study encompasses both qualitative and quantitative approaches of content analysis technique to examine trends of sensational news reporting by television broadcasts. Geo News, ARY News, Express News and Dawn News are analyzed from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017 from 8:00pm to 10:00pm. Sensationalism is measured by taking the breaking news items as unit of analysis. The findings of the study show that Pakistani news channels are using sensational news style to gain higher ratings and viewership. In Express newscasts more sensationalism is used as compared to Geo News. The statistical test chi-square was applied to evaluate the hypothesis which gave significant value. The results provided that news channels give more coverage to the issues related to law & order and terrorism, while less coverage to news related to judiciary. Geo News is at top position to cover political issues most frequently. The results also reveal that sensationalism is lowest in Dawn News