TV Talk Shows in Pakistan: Politically Engaged or Politically Skeptic?

Abstract

The present research explores the political content of TV talk shows under the theoretical frameworks of framing and cultivation analysis. The content analysis of systematically selected 100 programs of five top rated serious and five comedy talk shows broadcast on Pakistani TV Channels during October-December 2019 were analyzed to detect the tropes of political engagement and political skepticism. The research established that days of the week, duration of the program, and the program's genre influenced the tropes of programs. There search concludes that serious talk shows contributed to political engagement, whereas comedy talk shows created more politically skeptical tropes.