Exposure to Current Affairs Talk Shows:

An Empirical Opinion Formation in Balochistan

Youth

Scholar
Naseer Ahmed Baloch

Supervisor
Prof.Dr.Rizwana Chang
Contents
 Introduction
 Problem Statement
 Literature Review
 Research questions
 Aims and Objectives
 Hypothesis
 Methodology
 Sampling
 Pilot Study
 Conclusion
 References
Introduction
Current affairs talk shows and opinion formation

 Current times, Television shows have become a significant force in enlightening the youth and
helping them to form an opinion.
 Current affairs talk shows are fastest growing medium and highly important kind of electronic media
programming.
 Current affairs talk shows are based on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories, provide a
platform to understand the issue behind the news.
 This research seeks to investigate the media influence on youth in Balochistan and also find out, how
cultivation theory can be helpful in a specific situation and what are that factors which influence
viewers opinion and individuals acceptance of media message.
 Amongst all the medium today, television attracts the largest number of viewers. Its audience is
greater in number than any of the other media audiences. This is because television is able to attract
the audiences of all age groups, literate and illiterate and of all the fragments of the society.
 Television offers audio-visual and the word at the same time together which become more impactful
for communication process .
 Current affairs Talk shows have added a strengthening effects by debating on issues alarming for the
democracy and stability of the country.
 As an important agent of socialization, media enable our senses toward specific attitude, so
what knowledge common public gain are depended on emphasis given by the media to any
issue(Walter Lipmann 1922).
 Cultivation theory in its most basic form, suggests that television is responsible for shaping, or
‘cultivating’ viewers’ conceptions of social reality, Cultivation theorists argue that television has
long-term effects which are small, gradual, indirect but cumulative and significant(George
Gerbner 1960).
 History of electronic media in the Pakistan starts From 1964 but it got a defining direction from
2002, it's an general opinion that electronic media in Pakistan Travelled a 100 years journey in
just few years.
 Scenario of electronic media in Pakistan before 2002 was far different than today ,in the past
current affairs Talk shows were old fashioned and only state propagated content were get on
aired but today every fraction of the society have opportunity to be heard.
 Television is the dominated medium in Balochistan and we believe that the finding of this
research not only help media organizations to better understand potential viewers but also
provide insights for projecting issues related to the province in theirs talk shows .
Problem Statement
 Broadcast media have brought revolutionary change in the field of mass communication , the ability
to reach a large portion of target audience made such medium very effective for opinion formation.
 Television shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action(Marshal McLuhan
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, 1964, p.9) .
 Television has great potential not only to inform and but also educate and Current Affairs talk shows
are appropriate platform for debate and discussion.
 The news media are believed by many people including policy makers to be reliable information
sources forming an opinion (Professor G. Ray Funkhouser1973)
 However ,the potential benefits of media can be achieved, when tools of communications are
effectively utilized by communicator .
 Therefore it is crucial to identify and investigate the factors that influence the attitude and behavior of
media consumers.
Literature Review
 In order to investigate the factors influencing youth behaviours and attitude, we employ Cultivation
theory ,Agenda setting theory , Uses and Gratifications Theory .
 Cultivation theory developed by Professor George Gerbner(1960)states that media heavily influence
perceptions of the real world and more time people spend 'living' in the television world, the more
likely they are to believe social reality aligns with reality portrayed on television.
 Agenda-setting theory was formally developed by Max McCombs and Donald Shaw in a study on the
1968 American presidential election. This theory refers to how the media’s news coverage determines
which issues become the focus of public attention.
 Uses and Gratifications Theory(USG)developed by Elihu Katz and Jay Blumler(1974),this theory
seeks to explain the relationship between an audience and how this audience uses the media.
 Media direct for the opinion formation and decision making (Ghulam Safdar ,Mohamamd Javed and
Mohammad Imran 2015).
 Media role is central to inform the public and public opinion is made in democracy by voting
and responding to polls (Catherine harpers 2013).
 Picture in our head about the larger world is what media tells us(Walter Lipmann 1922).
 Media role in developing and influencing public opinion is pivotal and crucial (Megha Gaur
2014.
 Private media has rendered marvelous service to the society in proceeding political awareness
to the masses(Zahid Yousof 2012).
 Media setting a national schema which has massive and highly recognize d influence on
public on crucial issues (Megha Gaur 2014).
 Television not only become essential for information but also affect our mind and built a
public opinion(Atif Umair,Salman Amin and Adnan Rasheed 2014) .
 There is a correlation between what the media deem important and salience in the public mind.
In similar terms, agenda setting claims that what the media find important will eventually be
mirrored in what people think are important (Deepak Nayyar 2007).
 Deepak Nayyar 2007 Modern Mass communication (concepts and processes) Page 99 .
 Media is one of the agents that politically socialize masses, in this study researchers emphasized that
public opinion formed through political socialization , (Mirza Jan and Mohammad Anwar 2014).
 Television Viewer get a remarkable awareness by current affairs program, political discussion and
live coverage about difficult issues on television(Mohammad Nawaz Mahsud, Ishtiaq Ahmed
Choudary Salman Amin and Mohammad Sarfraz Khan 2013).
 Media played a pivotal role in disseminating knowledge to youth(Mohammad Tahir and Bushra Shafi
2015).
Research Questions
 In what extend media can influence youth in Balochistan in the process of political civilization and
opinion formation?
 How current affairs shows can play a role to mold public opinion ?
 What kind of media exposure are perceived by youth in Balochistan?
 what is the level of gratification among youth in Balochistan about Talk shows?
 How mainstream national media covering issue related to units or provinces?
 The Study will try to find out the actual condition of political socialization among youth in
Balochistan?
Aims and Objective
 The primary aims of the research is to develop a frame work of influential factors that help
Baluchistan youth to form an opinion on political and social issues .
 The proposed framework integrate key constructs form media uses of gratification and agenda setting
theories, thus this research is to achieve following research objectives .
 To investigate the role current affairs shows in formation of an opinion.
 To find out the importance of current affairs shows in the process of political socialization.
 To know in what extant youth in Balochsitan watch current affairs base Television Shows as compare
to other genres e.g. musical, sports and quiz shows etc.
 Impact of different current affairs shows and what is credibility of hosts of these current affairs
shows.
 To explore how student, get the level of satisfaction to make a perception into a fact.
 To motivate the youth by watching current affairs shows for changing their voting behaviors.
Research Hypotheses
 H1 Current Affairs Talk shows play significant role in opinion formation among youth in Baochsitan .
 H2 Youth in Baluchistan are not gratified by Television channels Talk shows .
 H3 Talk shows contents are politically framed and broadcast a specific agenda .
 H4 Talk shows are planted in the favor of some pressure groups.
 H5 Majority of Current affairs talk shows are analytical not based on investigative reporting.
 H6 TV channels and talk show host credibility matters among youth in Balochistan.
Methodology
 In order to achieve the research objective of this study ,we will employ quantitative research
methodology using survey technique .
 Survey is mostly used to describe attitudes and survey can explain what exist at the moment (Roger
D. wimmer and Joseph R.Dominick)
 A survey questionnaire will be developed and distributed among viewers of current affairs talk shows
in university of Balochisan to collect empirical data.
 The Data collected from survey then be coded in SPSS software ,the data analysis will be performed
using SPSS and AMOS.
 The SPSS version 20.0 will be used for the descriptive analysis ,missing value analysis and
exploratory factor analysis ,While the AMOS version 20.0 will be used for structural equations
Modeling (SEM) analysis i.e. confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) Testing Model fit the data and
Hypotheses Testing.
Sampling and Universe
 Overall population for research (850 )Students of Faculty of Social sciences departments at
University of Balochsitan.
 Method: Probability Sampling with random technique.
 Sample size:265 based on Krejcie and Morgan (1970) sample selection criterion.
 In addition to this ,sample may be increased based on the analytical techniques SEM(300 to 400 )and
so on.
Pilot study
 A pilot or feasibility study is usually carried out before the main data collection process in order to
check its feasibility in term of reliability and validity to improve the deign of the instrument
(Zikmund,W.G 2003)
 The recommended sample for the piloting study is in accordance to the guidelines in literature which
suggested the pilot study sample size to be generally small i.e., up to 100
respondents(Diamantopoulos and siguaw,2000)or between 10 t0 30 (Luck and Rubin 1987) members
of relevant population.
 For survey in Pilot study ,my proposed size will be 40.
 The recommended sample for piloting study is in accordance to the guidelines in literature which suggested
the pilot study sample size to be generally small e.g. 10 to 30(Luck and Rubin)
 By the cut of date(24 March to 15 April 2018)30 responses were collected out from 40 requested in
department of mass communication and political science of university of Balochistan, response rate was
80%.The missing data were deliberately avoided by keeping each item as mandatory to complete before
moving to next item.
 The respondents informed that on average it took 15 to 20 minute to complete the survey instrument.
Table -1(Result of Pilot study)
Gender Opinion formation Not effected Total
Male 17 3 20
Female 5 5 10
Total 22 8 30
Table -2(Result of Pilot Study )
Gender Opinion formation Not effected Total
O(E)* O(E)

Male 17(14.7) 3(5.35) 20

Female 5(7.33) 5(2.67) 10
Total 22 8 30
O is observed value
E is expected value
Using chi square distribution for =0.05

χ 1=4.17
The critical value for given data having one degree of freedom is 3.84,
As calculated value of chi square is greater than critical value at =0.05,thus ,it shows that the
hypotheses is accepted ,moreover the current affairs Talk shows will effect opinion formation.
Pilot study
 Content validity is qualitative assessment of relationship between items and corresponding construct
through rating by experts judges and pretests with multiple sub population.
 Content validity of the item ensures that output found through the instruments were the real
representation of the concept of the interest(hair etal.2006).
 In the present study for establishing the content validity/face validity researcher adopted items from
the literature of media impact on youth.
 All the items were well defined and examined in number of studies, therefore there was a little
moderation made in the wording according to the context of the study.
Pilot Study
 Reliability :the word reliability is most often used for evaluating the consistency
between number of item measuring single variable ,also Called spilt-half method(Hair et al 2006)
 The reason behind selecting Cronbach,s a (inter-item consistency reliability) is that it is easier to
calculate and is well accepted within the academic research (Cronbach,
1951;Nunnally,1978;Tabachink &Fidell, 2007).
 In general ,lower acceptable limit of Cronbach,s a coefficient is at 0.70(70%) however ,it may be
accepted at 0.60(60%)(Robinson et al., 1991;Sekran,2000).
Pilot Study
 Factor analysis: to confirm that the scale selected for the present study is supported by the data.
According to the Tabach nick and fidell(2007,p.26)factor analysis is best way to understand the
underlying structure about particular theory and its variable in analysis.

 By combining principle component analysis (PCA)as an extraction method and varimax as rational
method result of EFA displays that Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin(KMO)statistics which is measurement of
sampling adequacy was higher than recommended value of 0.60(Kaiser,1974) for most of constructs.
In addition, significance of Bartlett,s Test of Sphericity in all the constructs indicate that the
correlation among the measurement items was higher than 0.3 and were suitable for EFA(Hair et
al.,2006).
Pilot study
 Reliblity:Table-2 show that most of the item in all constructs produced higher than Cronbach,s
recommended value 0.6(Cronbach's 1951).
 the overall reliability of the instrument within piloting was χ 1=4.17 ,which is above than the
recommended threshold 0.7(Nunnally and Bernstein 1994).
 The individual construct reliability is 3.84.
Pilot study
Factor analysis
The total variance extracted by the question within construct needs to be higher than 0.60(Hair et
al.,2006),whereas partly they are found higher in the present study. For instance entertainment ,
information gathering .
However, factor loading revealed that all the items in these construct were loaded above 0.5,therefore
they were retained (Hair et al., 2006) for analysis (i.e. after full scale data collection process).
Conclusion
 The current study concluded that Current affairs talk show role is essential in formation of opinion
among youth in Balochsitan.
 Electronic media has proven to be the most significant source of information and opinion formation
 Youth rely on Television Not only for information but also for in-depth understanding on issues.
 Television Talk shows affects on youth are enormous for reshaping their attitude.
 Youth in Balochistan are inclined to get political knowledge from Current affairs talk show but they
also have tendency to get social issues to be discussed on such shows.
 Being greatly influence by format and style of these talk shows todays youth also assume some
Television anchor persons as opinion leader.
 Due to popularity of Television Channel ,Talk shows are also being used for agenda setting and
framing.
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 Thank you
Suggestion and recommendations are
welcome and will be highly appreciated.