Social Media: A Threat to Quality Journalism? A Comparative Analysis of the Content from Social Media and Mainstream Media

Abstract

The study inquisitively talks about the impact of social media on quality journalism in Pakistan, which poses a threat to objectivity, accuracy, balance and ethical considerations being considered an integral component of any news item. Based on the framing and dependency theories of mass communication, the research qualitatively dealt with the data collected from social media and mainstream media. The researcher selected eight stories from social media, and the same were chosen from the mainstream media. After collecting the data, some news values were taken as a parameter and operationalized in the context of Pakistani media content; that is how issues are framed. These values were investigated after examining the content, and it was found that social media compromised those values and exploited the audience's dependency on it. Social media tried to influence public perception about the selected issues. In contrast, the mainstream media, on the other hand, has tried its best to consider these values while covering the same issues.