Framing the Vulnerable: A Content Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse Coverage on Leading Pakistani TV News Channels through the Lens of Agenda-Setting and Social Responsibility Theories

Abstract

Despite the intensifying situation of child sexual abuse cases in Pakistan, the issue is still shrouded in silence and societal stigma, making open dialogue and ethical media reporting more crucial than ever. While Pakistani news channels have played a crucial role in breaking barriers and stereotypical taboos by highlighting these issues as significant social concern but yet the reporting of these issues carry substantial ethical and societal implications. The reporting of such sensitive issues implicate heavy burden of responsibility and professional expertise by channels. Drawing theoretical foundations from Agenda setting and social responsibility theories the study has conducted a quantitative content analysis to analyze reporting of child sexual abuse among three leading Pakistani TV news channels i.e., Geo News, ARY News and Dunya News. Coding categories for this study include determinants: Frequency, News Headline, Privacy, Tone, Background Sound, visuals of News. One way ANOVA has been applied to test hypothesis for each category. The result of content analysis showed that three out of five categories showed difference of reporting on three selected TV news channels. The results and findings of content analysis have demonstrated that most of the news stories were covered and reported in unfavorable way by news channels. The news channels adopted sensational, dramatic and emotional tones with distressing visuals to enhance the impact which could instead of information result into distress among audiences particularly parents and children. The study strongly recommends that government, policy makers, law enforcement institutions and media all need to come forward to highlight this issue, raise awareness, ensure maximum efforts for protection of children as first priority.