News Media Exposure and Community Consensus on Terrorism in a Developing Country: First and Second Level Agenda-Setting Effects

Abstract

This study investigates how increased news media use corresponds to an increasing consensus among different subgroups in society regarding social issues (first level of agenda-setting) and consensus on the attributes of the terrorism issue (second level of agenda-setting). With its cross-sectional design, the study, includes a content analysis of three leading newspapers and three television channels, coupled with a systematic random sample survey of the audience. Results indicated that news media use and consensus-building studies regarding an agenda of important issues confronting the community were not replicated within the Pakistani public. In contrast, the pattern of increased news media use and consensus on the attributes of the terrorism issue was strongly replicated in Pakistan. The findings further showed that news media reduced differences among divergent demographic subgroups and contributed to how these groups think about and understand issues. It was concluded that news media, by emphasising certain aspects of terrorism, contributed to the development of social consensus among diversified segments of a population concerning to their opinion about different aspects of terrorism. Thus, the media must be free of political and ideological pressures to act as a pluralistic platform to form an informed public opinion.