twitter’s role in inter media agenda setting on political

ISSN 2309-0081 Qaisar & Riaz (2020)

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www.irss.academyirmbr.com August 2020

International Review of Social Sciences Vol. 8 Issue.8

R S S

Twitter’s Role in Inter Media Agenda Setting on Political

Issues of Pakistan

ABDUL REHMAN QAISAR PhD Scholar, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 03339821740

SAQIB RIAZ Chairman & Associate Professor, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad.

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 03335133001

Abstract

Present study explores intermedia agenda setting on political issues of Pakistan. Three Pakistani English

dailies (print media) and Twitter (Social Media) is selected for the study. Data from selected newspapers

has been collected using keywords search method from Lexis Nexis and data from Twitter has been

collected using APIs. A codebook was created to measure the frequency of topics receiving attention both

in print and social media. YoshiKoder software was used to set up content categories. Computer assisted

content analysis was performed to test intermedia agenda-setting using one day time lag. Data has been

analyzed using cross-lagged correlation and Rozelle-Campbell baseline formula to establish a causal

direction in the intermedia agenda-setting. Findings reveal that issue frequencies over twitter and

newspapers are highly correlated. Twitter top trends received significant attention in the next day’s print

media papers. Cross-lagged correlation results of The News International (r=0.896), The Nation

(r=0.876), and Express Tribune (r=0.836) validated study’s hypothesis, “It is more likely that there is a

significant correlation between Social Media Agenda and Traditional Print Media Agenda with a time lag

of one day.” Examination of Twitter posts has revealed that a significant number of Twitter posts are direct

replication of newspaper stories and/or video footage from TV channels. Similarly, more and more news

reporters, anchors, writers, columnists, and independent journalists are using Twitter to discuss exclusive

stories. Politicians use Twitter as their major connection point for both public and media. Tweets are

flashed as breaking news on channels and reported prominently on newspapers, and the same published

news stories and footage become tweets.

Keywords: Intermedia Agenda Setting, Social Media Agenda, Twitter Agenda.

Introduction

Political figures make use of strategic issues management to notify the public of their stance on specific

issues through different social media platforms. With the help of this definite stratum, politicians can

interact with voters and supporters using social media to address several issues, make clarification, issue

policy statements and most importantly link to media conveniently. Accordingly, most political leaders use

agenda-setting because it is important to set a narrative, slogan or a point to attract voters and turn these

things into an election campaign. Social media is the best place to set agenda having unlimited space and

unlimited connectivity options. According to Weaver and McCombs, Shaw (1997) agenda setting

“examines how media coverage affects both what the public thinks about and how the public thinks about

mailto:[email protected]

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it” and the way public sentiment or opinion is influenced by the media (p. 3). For instance, presidential

candidate nomination begin way before election and desirous candidates start their election campaigns as

nominee for the post of president/prime minster deliberately choose point, mission, objectives or goals

(agenda) for his or her tenure in office if chosen. In order to achieve these objectives political entities, take

help of traditional media online means, and social media in particular. In order to build a narrative,

politicians typically take sides by focusing or highlighting particular dimension of the social, political,

economic issues and try to give a position on such issues if he or she is given a chance in next elections. In

the presence of various new media platforms, it has become very easy for the politicians to set their own

agenda. This strategy can also help them to avoid traditional media where more constructive criticism can

halt or create problem for the political leaders. Social media is unregulated where no gatekeeping take place

so free flow of information and radially available supporter help the cause of politicians (Phillips, 2015).

State of Media in Pakistan (Rational of the Study)

In Pakistan, digital media has seen exceptional growth in recent years. Now we are living in complete

digital world where social media has become part and parcel of our lives and dependencies over traditional

mediums have been reduced and secondly these mediums have adopted online sources in their new

gathering and transmission process. So, a revisit is necessary to see the impact of these changes in country

like Pakistan. This vibrant social media has gained significant position with ever increasing users specially

youngsters coupled with political activism in Pakistan. Youth mainly has become active stakeholder in

political scenario through the use of social media. Social media has developed agenda setting power and it

is creating an impact on people. Broad communications significantly affect molding the agenda for political

battles by making individuals mindful of significant policy-driven issues.

Online sites in Pakistan has been used in in five different ways; breaking stories disregarded by

conventional media; advancing and planning helpful parts of issues; activating individuals for social and

different crusades; quickening correspondence among government officials and publics for social causes.

There is very interesting interplay between social media and equally fast-growing news channels in

Pakistan where social media and news channels appreciate each other and attribute each other in most of

the occasions. As one of the most comprehensive and international theories of journalism studies available,

agenda setting continues to evolve in the expanding digital media landscape.

Selected Traditional Media Outlets

Express Tribune

Daily The Express Tribune is the primary universally associated paper in Pakistan. Cooperated with The

International New York Times – the worldwide version of The New York Times – the paper takes into

account the advanced essence of Pakistan. With its momentous formats made by a universal honor winning

planner, the paper offers an animating visual encounter intended to make stories wake up on paper (cited at

https://tribune.com.pk/about/).

The Nation

Daily “The Nation” is an English Language Newspaper in Pakistan. It widely read and recognized

newspaper which more closely associated with the ideology of the country. The Nation was included in this

study because of its unique position and stand over national issues of Pakistan. “The Nation” has an

uncommon situation in Pakistan's media, as the most regarded distribution in English, with firm and

productive perspectives, and fantastic news inclusion. With five releases distributed every day from three

stations, it is the market chief in the Punjab and Islamabad territories, and has set up a solid base in Karachi

since its origin there in 2000. (Cited at https://nation.com.pk/about-us).


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The News International

Daily the “The News International” is widely circulated English language newspaper in Pakistan. The

News International has a circulation of over 140,000 as confirmed by Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC).

“The News International” published from Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. It is the only

newspaper in Pakistan which has an abroad release, abroad release of the News International is distributed

from London that takes into account the Pakistani people group in the United Kingdom. The News is

distributed by the Jang Group of Newspapers (cited at http://epaper.pknewspapers.com/day by day the-

news.html).

Selected Social Media Outlets

Twitter

Twitter is the most well-known micro blogging web-based application. Twitter was found by Jack Dorsey

in 2006. Twitter was initially limited to 140 character per message (known as tweet). This limit has been

increased to 280 characters in 2017. Twitter has many exciting features including pictures, videos, reply,

retweet, like, comment, cards, polls, search, design etc. Twitter has over 300 million active users. Similarly,

in Pakistan there are around 04 million twitter users. Comparing other social media application twitter users

are in lessor numbers but one we analyze the twitter users, it can be found that the twitter users include elite

political, social, corporate, religious leaders. Mostly twitter users are influential in nature thus can easily

make an impact. In this way twitter has gained a significant position among other social media users.

Researcher selected twitter for study considering various reasons. The first reason was popularity and

recent growth of twitter and social media platform specially for political contents. Secondly twitter has

been adopted in new media and new media environment twitter has appeared as one of the major sources of

news, discussion, and response. Another important factor is use of twitter by journalist and other people

associated with news industry. This wide spread use of twitter by journalist community increase its

importance because people associated with news industry use twitter to share exclusive stories, make

comments on twitter posts of politicians and fellow workers. In this way twitter become interesting debate

point where intellectually rich serious users make logical discussions helping common user to have an

opinion (Rindfuss, 2009). Similarly, when all prominent newspapers, news channels, magazine are not only

maintaining twitter accounts but also consistently using them. This use is mostly to reproduce political

statements or response to political issues. Thirdly Twitter has real time and mobile features making its

availability on smart phones which enable citizen, journalists, and political stake holder to interact

simultaneously and monitor the real world through the lens of twitter and sometime these reporter use

twitter to go live using its live feature specially when they feel this event/issue/ situation cannot be covered

through their respective organization platform because of policy related issues.

This study will focus specifically on the online publication of the selected papers and twitter to see nature

and extent of intermedia agenda setting on political issues of Pakistan.

Aven Field Reference Verdict (Selected Issue)

NAB (The accountability Court) on July 06, 2018 announced the verdict Against the former Prime Minster

of Pakistan Mian Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield Properties Case. This reference was filed by the NAB

(National Accountability Bureau of Pakistan). According to verdict Mr. Nawaz Sharif (ex-Prime Minster)

was ten years imprisonment for owning resources beyond means and 1 year for not cooperating with NAB.

Maryam Safdar, daughter of former Prime-minster Nawaz Sharif was given 7 years imprisonment after she

was discovered instrumental in camouflaging of the properties and 1 year for non-cooperation with the

agency (cited at www.tribune.pk).


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The announcement of verdict over flooded Twitter with tweets of congrats, regrets, rejections, jubilations

and reactions making it top trend over Twitter. This was a very import case in the history of Pakistan where

an ex- prime minster was sentenced. It will be important to know how social media storm influenced

traditional media.

Statement of the Problem

Social media has become a rising phenomenon in Pakistan. It is now playing its role in political

communication by providing new public sphere to leaders of political parties and their followers as well.

Issues taken at social media are being reported in traditional media (television and newspapers). Agenda

building process is a significant area of research with quest to establish causal direction between social

media and traditional media. The nature of relationship between social media top trends and traditional

media's salience to these issues is a dimension which needs to be explored on the political issues of

Pakistan. Accordingly, time lag in transfer of agenda from social media to traditional media and vice versa

is another dimension requiring scientific enquiry. Present study is designed to answer these problems using

advance statistical tools like cross lagged correlation panel design and Roselle Campbell baseline.

Literature Review

Agenda-Setting Theory Revisited: New Media Environment

According McCombs (2005) web-based sources have “quickly changed the communication diaspora as the

new web-based sources have influenced the traditional sources. (2005, p. 543). In introduction of 5 stages

of agenda-setting theory (basic, attribute, priming, framing and intermedia), McCombs repeated questions

and prepared hypotheses that correlated with the modern communication diaspora.

After 2016, when Donald Trump won US presidential Elections, the importance of social media use has

emerged as one the most important factor in politics and election campaigns. Kushin (2010) indicated huge

role of social media in political battle atmosphere, according to him it is important to observe how races

start and the job media has played since commencement of social media. Political correspondence advanced

from radio to TV lastly web based, making new roads for government officials to arrive at potential voters.

Today, the Internet and web-based social networking, joined with customary media, assume a critical job in

the political procedure, particularly during races (Winograd and Hais, 2008). Barack Obama and his rivals

were the primary presidential contender to saddle the intensity of these new mechanisms for the 2008

presidential battle (Williams, 2008). Voters could without much of a stretch prepare their companions

through online data sharing, help enlist new voters and drive traffic on political decision day. These online

techniques were very valuable to President Obama, a previous representative who appeared to appear

suddenly and really win (Williams, 2008).

Culloty Eileen (2016) As Twitter plays an increasingly important role in connecting people to news stories,

research into the role of hashtags in media agenda-setting and issue framing has developed rapidly.

Traditional agenda setting theory posits that governments and mainstream media is powerful to define and

frame the public agenda. However, the hashtags on Twitter allow ad hoc and disparate publics to shape

around specific issues (Burns & Burgess 2011) and often in opposition to mainstream or „elite‟ framing. In

addition, the democratized access to social media platforms allows various interest groups to compete

strategically for ideological issue framing. This is particularly true of controversial topics like the 2015

European refugee crisis which has been variously framed as a „migration‟ issue by many mainstream

political and media organizations and as a humanitarian „refugee‟ issue by many aid charities and civilian

groups. In addition, various groups have sought to contextualize the European refugee crisis in terms of its

deeper connection to policies regarding, for example, migration, Syrian intervention, climate change and

internal border controls.


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Ilona Grzywińska (2016) argued that the way information is interpreted by the media consumers has

changed dramatically with the advent of social networking sites (SNS). The authors of the article, applying

the framework provided by McCombs in 2005, demonstrate how the theory's key assumptions are

questioned in its five stages. SNS (Social Networking Sites) users decide about the what information is a

news and is relevant by deciding whether to share that news within their social networks (basic agenda-

setting effects); event-related attributes are provided by SNS users with different restrictions (agenda-

setting attributes); under conditions of high uncertainty and significance.

Research Design

The present study is designed to explore inter-media Agenda-setting on political issues of Pakistan. This is

a study of influence of social media agenda over traditional media agenda and vice versa. Selected

traditional media include newspapers (The News International, The Nation, Express Tribune), whereas

selected social media include Twitter.

In order to meet the purpose of the study 02 coding sheets were prepared for print and social media.

Similarly, two keyword dictionaries have been prepared to analyses the data. Present research study has

performed computer assisted content analysis to establish possible anchor role between Twitter and print

version of selected newspapers with time lag of one day. A code book has created for the measurement

which allow the frequency measurement of the topic receiving attention in print media and Twitter. Data

collected using codebook has subjected to a machine learning software Yoshikoder and resultant facts have

been analyzed by employing cross lagged-correlations and the Rozelle-Campbell baseline.

Coding Sheets

Two coding sheets have used to code data separately from print media and Social Media.

Table 1 Basic Data Collection Coding Sheet Print Media

Issue Avenfield Reference Case Verdict

Ser Newspaper Date Text

1 Dawn 10/3/2018

2 The Nation 11/3/2018

Twitter Coding Sheet

Twitter data was received in CSV file containing huge information and irrelevant post as well. Following

coding sheet was used to sort data collected from Twitter:

Table 2 Basic Coding Sheet for Data Collection from Twitter

Issue: Avenfield Reference

Ser Handle Date Time Text

1 @abc 06-07-18 9:12 A M

Translation

As the collected data consists of tweets both is Urdu and English. In order to analyze data all tweets in Urdu

were translated into English using MS office 2019 translation service.


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Findings

Table 3 Day wise Issue Frequencies over Twitter

Ser Issues

(Discussed on Twitter)

Twitter

Day 1

Twitter

Day 2

Twitter

Day 3

1. AC Court Verdict *1931 1003 298

2. Allied Political Parties‟ Statements 365 377 57

3. Avenfield Reference 587 126 43

4. Corruption 766 423 52

5. Court and Judges 1504 327 76

6. Decision to Return Pakistan 264 105 62

7. Election 2018 271 63 26

8. Family Reactions over Verdict 1185 226 89

9. Imran Khan and PTI 353 201 74

10. NAB 132 104 69

11. Panama JIT 31 6 0

12. Panama Leaks 15 0 0

13. Role of Establishment 611 132 79

14. Influence on Stock Exchange 4 5 3

Total 8019 3098 928

*Figures Showing Keyword Frequencies

Overall finding shows that on 1st day keyword count is significantly more (8019) as compared to day two

(3098) followed by day 3 (928). Among selected issues announcement of verdict was more frequent (1931)

as compared to court and judges (1504) followed by family and followers‟ reaction over the verdict. (1185).

Table 4 Day Wise Issue Frequencies on Print Media

Se

r

Issues Exp Exp Exp Nat Nat Nat News News News

1. AC Court Verdict 22 34 7 14 60 11 6 70 13

2. Allied Political Parties 14 8 1 9 15 4 9 1 8

3. Avenfield Reference 15 18 3 12 30 3 3 20 7

4. Corruption 13 8 1 8 13 3 2 22 2

5. SC Court and Judges 22 32 18 7 31 5 15 59 3

6. Decision to Return

Pakistan

21 4 2 19 9 1 3 7 4

7. Election 2018 14 5 3 2 7 4 1 13 4

8. Family Reactions over

Verdict

21 30 21 5 19 5 21 25 17

9. Imran Khan and PTI 11 1 1 7 13 0 0 5 2

10. NAB 8 15 9 2 4 1 1 18 4

11. Panama JIT 1 1 2 2 1 0 1 4 0

12. Panama Leaks 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 2 0

13. Role of Establishment 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0

14. Stock Exchange 0 11 5 1 0 0 1 9 0

Total 162 167 73 89 204 37 64 256 64

*Figures Showing Keyword Frequencies

Overall findings show that on 2nd

day keyword count is significantly more as compared to day one followed

by day three across all selected papers. Among selected issues announcement of verdict was more frequent


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as compared to court and judges followed by family and followers‟ reaction over the verdict across all

categories.

Table 5 Correlations Test between Twitter and Print Media Variable Test T2*** T3 ET1 Ex2 Ex3 Na1 NT2 NT3 TN1 TN2 TN3 TwiiterD1 1 .827** .812** .700** .836** .582* .399 .876** .861** .624* .896** .635*

.000 .000 .005 .000 .029 .158 .000 .000 .017 .000 .015

14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

TwitterD2 .827** 1 .910** .581* .615* .188 .506 .865** .870** .307 .761** .565*

.000 .000 .029 .019 .520 .065 .000 .000 .286 .002 .035 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

TwitterD3 .812** .910** 1 .555* .632* .259 .479 .842** .811** .264 .748** .615*

.000 .000 .040 .015 .370 .083 .000 .000 .362 .002 .019 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

ExpTriD1 .700** .581* .555* 1 .682** .528 .746** .725** .737** .636* .649* .711**

.005 .029 .040 .007 .052 .002 .003 .003 .014 .012 .004 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

ExpTriD2 .836** .615* .632* .682** 1 .821** .308 .793** .797** .737** .885** .723**

.000 .019 .015 .007 .000 .284 .001 .001 .003 .000 .003 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

ExpTriD3 .582* .188 .259 .528 .821** 1 -.008 .366 .443 .856** .601* .582*

.029 .520 .370 .052 .000 .977 .198 .113 .000 .023 .029 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

NationD1 .399 .506 .479 .746** .308 -.008 1 .608* .454 .183 .360 .420

.158 .065 .083 .002 .284 .977 .021 .103 .531 .205 .134 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

NationD2 .876** .865** .842** .725** .793** .366 .608* 1 .900** .429 .868** .656*

.000 .000 .000 .003 .001 .198 .021 .000 .126 .000 .011 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

NationD3 .861** .870** .811** .737** .797** .443 .454 .900** 1 .534* .840** .756**

.000 .000 .000 .003 .001 .113 .103 .000 .049 .000 .002 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

NewsD1 .624* .307 .264 .636* .737** .856** .183 .429 .534* 1 .481 .722**

.017 .286 .362 .014 .003 .000 .531 .126 .049 .081 .004

14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

NewsD2 .896** .761** .748** .649* .885** .601* .360 .868** .840** .481 1 .490

.000 .002 .002 .012 .000 .023 .205 .000 .000 .081 .076 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

NewsD3 .635* .565* .615* .711** .723** .582* .420 .656* .756** .722** .490 1

.015 .035 .019 .004 .003 .029 .134 .011 .002 .004 .076 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14

**. significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

***T=Twitter, Ex= Express Tribune, Na= The Nation, TN= The News International

Overall result shows significant relationship between Twitter and selected newspaper with time lag of one

day. Similarly, auto correlation between Twitter in all time lags shows significant results indicating role of

Twitter as agenda carrier between days more than the Print version papers due to limited space.

Table 6 shows combined sheet of all set of correlation performed including cross lagged. There were three

newspapers and correlation has been separately performed for each newspaper. Each newspaper comprised

two panels i.e. day one vs day two and day two vs day 3. Total six panels were setup and each panel were

tested for cross lagged correlation significance using excel calculation and logical formulas as given above.

The first panel was comprised of cross lagged correlation between Twitter and Express Tribune day 1-2 and

result shows Twitter has more influence on day two agenda of Express Tribune as the value (Pearson

r=0.836) is higher than all other correlation and also above RCB baseline score. However, the researcher

noted that auto correlation between Twitter day one and Twitter day 2 is also significantly high indicating

Twitter carried its agenda to next day (r= 0.823). The second panel consist cross lagged correlation between

Twitter and Express Tribune day 2-3 and result shows auto correlation between Twitter day one and day

two is significantly higher than all correlations indicating Twitter carried its agenda to next day (Pearson r=


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0.910). It can be concluded that Inter-media Agenda-setting (IAS) exist between Twitter and Express

Tribune with time lag of one day.

Table 6 Cross Lagged Correlation Test

Calculation of Rozelle Camp Baseline (RCB) Inter-media Agenda-setting (IAS)

*((A1+B1)/2)*SQRT(((C1)^2+(D1)^2)/2) *AND($H5>=C5,$H5>=D5, $H5>=E5,

$H5>=F5, $H5>=G5, $H5>=I5)

Medium X1Y1 X2Y2 X1X2 Y1Y2 RCB

***

X1Y2 PX2Y1 Direction

Twitter VS

Express

Tribune

(Day 1-2)

.700 .615 .827 .682 0.498 .836 .581 Twitter to Newspaper

Hypothesis

Accepted

Twitter VS

Express

Tribune (Day

2-3)

.615 .259 .910 .821 0.379 .188 .632 Autocorrelation

Hypothesis Rejected

Twitter VS

Daily The

Nation

(Day 1-2

.399 .865 .827 .608 0.459 .876 .506 Twitter t to

Newspaper

Hypothesis

Accepted

Twitter VS

Daily the

Nation

(Day 2-3)


Hypothesis Rejected

Twitter VS The

News Intl’

(Day 1-2)

.624 .761 .827 .481 0.469 .896 .307 Twitter t to

Newspaper

Hypothesis

Accepted

Twitter VS

(The News Intl’

(Day 2-3)


Hypothesis Rejected

* Inter-media Agenda-setting (IAS) test was performed using MS Excel 2019, formulas are given above.

** Figures showing Pearson Correlation values generated through SPSS-17 software

*** Rosselle Campbell Baseline (RCB)

The third panel was comprised of cross lagged correlation between Twitter and The Nation day 1-2 and

result shows Twitter has more influence on day two agenda of The Nation as the value (Pearson r=0.876) is

higher than all other correlation and also above RCB baseline score. However, the researcher noted that

Synchronous correlation (X2Y2) between Twitter and The Nation day two is also significantly high

(r=0.865) indicating simultaneous Agenda-setting on day two between Twitter and The Nation. The fourth

panel consist cross lagged correlation between Twitter and The Nation day 2-3 and result shows Twitter

auto correlation between day one and day two is significantly higher than all correlations indicating Twitter

carried its agenda to next day (Pearson r= 0.910). It can be concluded that Inter-media Agenda-setting

(IAS) exist between Twitter and The Nation with time lag of one day.

The Fifth panel was comprised of cross lagged correlation between Twitter and The News International day

1-2 and result shows Twitter has more influence on day two agenda of The News International as the value

(Pearson r=0.896) is higher than all other correlation and also above RCB baseline score. However, the

researcher noted that auto correlation between Twitter day two and The New International day 2 is also

significantly high indicating Twitter carried agenda to next day (r=0.827), giving clues of Twitter carried

agenda to the next day. The sixth panel consist of cross lagged correlation between Twitter and The News

International day 2-3 and result shows Twitter auto correlation between day one and day two is


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significantly higher than all correlations indicating Twitter carried its agenda to next day (Pearson r=

0.910). It can be concluded that Inter-media Agenda-setting (IAS) exist between Twitter and The News

International with time lag of one day.

Overall finding shows that there is Inter-media Agenda-setting (IAS) between Twitter and next day print

version newspapers. The cross lagged correlation strength is more significant between Twitter and The

News International then (r=0.896) and compared to The Nation (r=0.876) followed by Express Tribune

(r=0.836). Auto correlations and synchronous correlation are also above the threshold of Rozelle Campbell

base line score.

Statistical Modeling of Cross Lagged Correlation Panels

X1 PX1X2 .827 X2

PX1Y1 0.70 .615 PX2Y2

Y1 PY1Y2 .682 Y2

RCB= 0.498

D

PX1Y2=.836

PX2Y1=.581

*Figure generated through MS Excel 2019.

Figure 1 Twitter Day 1 and Express Tribune Day 2

Cross lagged correlation between Twitter and Express Tribune day 1-2 and result shows Twitter has more

influence on day two agenda of Express Tribune as the value (Pearson r=0.836) is higher than all other

correlation and also above RCB baseline score.

X2 PX2X3 .910 X3

PX2Y3 0.62 .259 PX3Y3

Y2 PY2Y3 .821 Y3

RCB= 0.379

D

PX2Y3=..188

PX3Y2=..632

* Figure generated through MS Excel 2019

Figure 2 Twitter Day 2 and Express Tribune Day 3

Cross lagged correlation between Twitter and Express Tribune day 2-3 and result shows Twitter auto

correlation between day one and day two is significantly higher than all correlations indicating Twitter

carried its agenda to next day (Pearson r= 0.910).


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X1 PX1X2 .827 X2

PX1Y1 0.40 .865 PX2Y2

Y1 PY1Y2 .608 Y2

RCB= 0.459

D

PX1Y2=.8.76

PX2Y1=..506

* Figure generated automatically through MS Excel 2019

Figure 3 Twitter Day 1 and The Nation Day 2

cross lagged correlation between Twitter and The Nation day 1-2 and result shows Twitter has more

influence on day two agenda of The Nation as the value (Pearson r=0.876) is higher than all other

correlation and also above RCB baseline score.

X2 PX1X2 .910 X3

PX2Y2 0.87 .811 PX2Y2

Y2 PY1Y2 .900 Y3

RCB= 0.759

D

RX2Y3=.870

RX3Y2=.842


Figure 4 Twitter Day 2 and The Nation Day 3

Cross lagged correlation between Twitter and The Nation day 2-3 and result shows Twitter auto correlation

between day one and day two is significantly higher than all correlations indicating Twitter carried its

agenda to next day (Pearson r= 0.910)

X1 PX1X2 .827 X2

PX1Y2 0.62 .761 PX2Y2

Y1 PY1Y2 .481 Y2

RCB= 0.469

D

PX1Y2=.896

PX2Y1=.307


Figure 5 Twitter Day 1 and The News Intl‟ Day 2


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Cross lagged correlation between Twitter and The News International day 1-2 and result shows Twitter has

more influence on day two agenda of The News International as the value (Pearson r=0.896) is higher than

all other correlation and also above RCB baseline score.

X2 PX1X2 .910 X3

PX1Y2 0.76 .615 PX2Y2

Y2 PY1Y2 .490 Y3

RCB= 0.503

D

PX2Y3=.565

PX3Y2=.748


Figure 6 Twitter Day 2 and The News Day 3

Cross lagged correlation between Twitter and The News International day 2-3 and result shows Twitter

auto correlation between day one and day two is significantly higher than all correlations indicating Twitter


Discussion on Findings

Agenda-setting research have completed its half century but every time new concepts and ideas are arising

and furthering ideas in Agenda-setting research. Agenda-setting research is like roller coaster in mass

media research as it has seen many rises and falls. Agenda research took its start from media agenda vs

policy/public agenda then shifted to framing vs priming. Since centuries print media was considered

authority in setting up public opinion but with the emergence of online media, the relevance of Agenda-

Setting is being challenged due to online instantaneous communication. Furthermore, the media‟s gate

keeping role has been blurred by media consumers in the unmediated online world. This has weakened the

ability of the single medium to set, change, propose, manipulate and transfer a clear media agenda to the

public. However, among available social media Twitter possesses this ability to set agenda for rest of media

outlets for being used as first choice by elite political, social and corporate forces.

Terms like Inter-media Agenda-setting, intra-medium Agenda-setting, bidirectional Agenda-setting,

attribute Agenda-setting has become very common. Current research trends are more in line with

establishing a causal direction in Agenda-setting. Who sets media agenda or which medium is more

`influential in setting up direction of the ideas being discussed on various available platforms (mediums)?

In recent years Twitter has achieved a unique leading position among other media outlets on political

issues, mainly because majority of political entities consider this medium as three-way bridge where public,

politicians and media persons can interact instantaneously and as whole.

Overall finding regarding issues frequencies over Twitter shows that on 1st day keyword count is

significantly more (8019) as compared to day two (3098) followed by day 3 (928). Among selected issues

announcement of verdict was more frequent (1931) as compared to court and judges (1504) followed by

family and followers‟ reaction over the verdict. (1185). Overall findings showings that on 2nd day keyword

count is significantly more as compared to day one followed by day three across all selected papers. Among

selected issues announcement of verdict was more frequent as compared to court and judges followed by

family and followers‟ reaction over the verdict across all categories. It is evident from the findings that


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issue frequencies over Twitter and newspapers are highly correlated. Twitter top trend has received

significant attention in the next day‟s print media papers.

In order to perform cross lagged correlation, there were three newspapers and each newspaper comprised of

two panels i.e. day one vs day two and day two vs day 3. Total six panels were setup and each panel were

tested for cross lagged correlation significance first panel result shows Twitter has more influence on day

two agenda of Express Tribune as the value (Pearson r=0.836) is higher than all other correlations in and

also is above RCB baseline score. Similarly result of second panel shows auto correlation between Twitter

day two and Express Tribune day Three is significantly higher than all correlations indicating Twitter


Result of third panel shows Twitter has more influence on day two agenda of The Nation as the value

(Pearson r=0.876) is higher than all other correlation and also is above RCB baseline score. Result of fourth

panel shows Twitter auto correlation between day two and day three is significantly higher than all

correlations indicating Twitter carried its agenda to next day (Pearson r= 0.910).

The Fifth panel was comprised of cross lagged correlation between Twitter and The News International day

1-2 and result shows Twitter has more influence on day two agenda of The News International as the value

(Pearson r=0.896) is higher than all other correlation and is also above RCB baseline score. Similarly,

result of sixth panel shows Twitter auto correlation between day one and day two is significantly higher

than all correlations indicating Twitter carried its agenda to next day (Pearson r= 0.910).

Overall finding shows that there is Inter-media Agenda-setting (IAS) between Twitter and next day print

version newspapers. The cross lagged correlation strength is more significant between Twitter and The

News International then (r=0.896) and compared to The Nation (r=0.876) followed by Express Tribune

(r=0.836). These finding extended support to study‟s first hypothesis “It is more likely that there is

significant correlation between Social Media Agenda and Traditional print Media agenda with time lag of

one day.” These finding are also in line with the findings of Ingrid Rogstad (2016), who studied the Inter-

media Agenda-setting between old and new media platforms. According to the finding Twitter and

mainstream media are aligned over salience to many issues including political issues. Similarly, Oliver

(2018) found increasing role of Twitter in political campaigns as political talk on Twitter is strongly

correlated with media coverage to it. It can be concluded that Twitter has stronger influence on traditional

media in term of political issues as more and more political leaders choosing Twitter to connect to public

and media. Twitter has become a source subsidy for journalists. Various social media channels emerged,

including social network sites and micro-blogging, which allow users to have instant, interaction access to

multi-media information. These services have gained great prominence in social media. At the same time as

the increase in social media, the traditional news media industry has endured difficult economic times due

to increasing market share of social media. Social media in order to catch with traditional media is

following social media trends in current new media environment. There was a time when one medium was

hesitant of attributing other media in term of contents but Twitter is often quoted in newspapers as a source

(Rachel Balsley 2018).

Findings shows that issue frequencies over Twitter and newspapers are highly correlated. Twitter top trends

has received significant attention in the next day‟s print media papers. Cross lagged correlation results of

The News International (r=0.896), The Nation (r=0.876) and Express Tribune (r=0.836) validated study‟s

hypothesis “It is more likely that there is significant correlation between Social Media Agenda and

Traditional print Media agenda with time lag of one day”.

Recommendations

There is rise of social, political, ethnic, religious and cultural polarization. Social media playing a catalyst

role in widening this polarization. Political polarization is mainly due to social media cells of political


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parties where every political party using reinforcement strategies to get more and more support based of

trolling and bullying of other parties and workers. This situation demand policy level intervention.

According to Maeve Duggan & Aaron Smith (2012) political debates are an issue, when political

discussions expand into otherwise personal social media, consumers face a number of social obstacles, such

as reading messages from friends and family who vehemently disagree or disagree with them. The influx of

political content is a source of frustration and discomfort for many social media users. The tonic and

amount of political material they find on these sites are a significant proportion of users of social media.

They view social media as being fundamentally intrusive and insensitive to other sources of discussion of

politics. There should be dislike button available for social media outlets to know the other side of the story

or genuine public response over stories posted on social media.

There should be a policy institute working on all dimensions of new media environment and provide

necessary policy level interventions including legislations and implementation on existing laws. It will help

in coping up technology driven societal issues.

New media has same issues as media faced in 16-19th

century after emergence of free press concept. with

the passage of world recognized the need of regulation, code of ethics, few redlines, social responsibility

ideas etc. At present unregulated social media is doing the same as traditional media was doing in old

times. Therefore, it has become imperative to regulate, develop code of ethics, start digital literacy

programs, public awareness campaigns about good use of social media. Such programs will enable general

user to identify difference between information and propaganda.

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Annexure A Keyword Dictionary Ser Theme Keywords

1 Accountability Court

Verdict

10years, 7year, Adala, Sentence, adeala, adyala, decision,

imprisonment, jailed, punish, sent to jail, sentenced, sentences

2. Allied Political Parties ANP, JUI, PMLN, PPP

3 Aven Field Reference Aven Field Reference

4 Corruption Corrupt, corruption, embezzlement

5. Decision to Return

Pakistan

Return, return to Pakistan, returning

6. Election 2018 Election, elections

7. Family Reactions Capt Safdar, Hamza Shahbaz, Hussain Nawaz, Maryam Nawaz,

captain Safdar, family's, Hassan Nawaz, Kalshum Nawaz,

Kalsoom Nawaz, Shahbaz sharif.

8. Imran Khan and PTI Imran Khan

9. NAB NAB, accountability, transparency

10. New Pakistan new Pakistan, Naya Pakisan

11. Panama JIT JIT, Joint Investigation report, Wajid Zia

12 Panama Leaks Leaks, Panama leak

13 Role of Establishment Establishment

14. Stock Exchange Market, Stock Exchange, shares

15. courts and Judges Asif Saeed Khosa, Ijaz ul ahsin, Judges, Muhammad Bashir,

Supereme Court, Supreme Court

http://www.cbs.dk/files/cbs.dk/52815712.pdf

http://www.policyandinternet.org/

twitter’s role in inter media agenda setting on political

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