Politics-media-youth nexus: Analysis of Pakistan’s general elections 2013

Figures & data

Table 1. Sampling design

Population	Sample	Method of selection
*148 political parties to which symbols were allotted by Election Commission of Pakistan for 2013 general elections	Three major parties only • PPPP • PML (N) • PTI	Purposive
**424 Dailies (Newspapers) being published in Pakistan	Three national Urdu Dailies (Lahore Edition) • Nawa-i-Waqt • Express • Jang	Purposive
All political election-related advertisements	Youth-oriented advertisements only	Purposive

* and ** are attached with the two data sources to highlight the actual source of data used in the Table.

Sources: EUEOMP (2013)*; APNS (2014)**.

Table 2. Advertisements published by political parties in Urdu Dailies

Political Parties	Number of advertisements	% of total advertisements	Number of advertisements published in Dailies
			Nawa-i-Waqt	Express	Jang
PMLN	326	54	211(65)	92(28)	23(7)
PTI	154	25	80(52)	62(40)	12(8)
PPPP	129	21	55(43)	60(47)	14(11)
Total advertisements	609	100	346	214	49

Note: Figures in parentheses are respective percentages showing distribution of total advertisements of political parties across Urdu Dailies.

Table 3. Youth-oriented advertisements

Political parties	Total number of advertisements	Youth-oriented advertisements		Other political advertisements
		Frequency	%	Frequency	%
PMLN	326	41	13	285	87
PTI	154	63	41	91	59
PPPP	129	40	31	89	69

Figure 1. Distribution of youth-oriented advertisements across Urdu Dailies

Table 4. Ranking of political parties based youth-oriented advertisements

Political parties	Number of youth-oriented advertisement				Proportion of youth-oriented advertisements in total advertisements published by each political party (%)
	Overall	Daily Express	Daily Nawa-i-Waqt	Daily Jang	Overall	Daily Express	Daily Nawa-i-Waqt	Daily Jang
PML (N)	41(2)	13(3)	18(2)	10(1)	13(3)	14(3)	9(3)	44(3)
PTI	63(1)	26(1)	29(1)	8(3)	41(1)	42(1)	36(1)	67(1)
PPPP	40(3)	18(2)	13(3)	9(2)	31(2)	30(2)	24(2)	64(2)

Note: Figures in parentheses are ranks in respective categories.

Table 5. Content categories used in youth-oriented advertisements

Categories of contents/appeals	Number of appeals under each category
	PML (N)	PTI	PPPP
Emotional words	2	11	5
Personal appeals	22	47	21
Endorsement	240	93	56
Play on words	81	29	52
Statistics	17	9	48
Total	362	189	182

Figure 2. Content/appeal analysis of advertisements of PTI

Figure 3. Content/appeal analysis of advertisements of PPPP

Figure 4. Content/appeal analysis of advertisements of PML (N)

Table 6. Content categories and key aspects highlighted in youth oriented advertisements

Categories	Sub-categories	Key aspects highlighted by political parties
		PML (N)	PTI	PPPP
Emotional words	Past sacrifices	• Nawaz Sharif family’s proscription in 1999	• 16 years struggle for the voice of youth	• Killing of PPPP’s chairperson Benazir Bhutto in terrorist attack in 2007
	Nationally important critical issues	• Energy crisis	• Corruption	• Moderate society
Personal appeals	Personal characteristics of leaders	• Patriotism of party leaders	• Honesty of the party chairman	• Succession of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
	Negativity about opponents	• Corruption of other parties	• Corruption of other parties	• Corruption of other parties
	Positivity about own party	• Calling party workers as ‘lions’	• Calling party workers as ‘tigers’	• Calling party workers as ‘jialas’ (passionate)
	Comparison of party with other parties	• Role of party in nuclear tests in 1998	• Claim for true representativeness of the youth	• Launch of Benazir Income Support Programme in 2008
Endorsement	Mainstreaming celebrities/heroes/party leaders	• The founder of Pakistan (Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinhah) • Party leaders and their descendants	• Showbiz stars • The party chairman as a sports idol • Winning of cricket world cup 1992	• The founder of PPPP (Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto) • The former prime minister (Benazir Bhutto) • Party leaders and their descendants
Play on words	Future goals and incentives	• Student laptop scheme • Youth loan schemes • Employment opportunities • Green tractor scheme • Land allotment to agriculture graduates	• High standard health and education systems • Employment opportunities and transparency in process • Economic development • Bringing talented youth back to Pakistan	• Equality in the society (Building on old slogan of 1970s ‘food, cloth and house for all’)
Statistics	References to vague statistics	–	–	• Economic development in last tenure
	References to specific statistics	• Motorway projects • Sasti roti scheme	• Shaukat Khanam Cancer hospital • NAMAL College	• Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package • Higher education devolution to provincial level

EUEOMP . (2013). A competitive and improved election process in Pakistan despite militant violence and procedural shortcomings . Preliminary Statement, General Elections, 11 May, 2013, European Union Election Observation Mission Pakistan.

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APNS . (2014). List of member publications . Karachi: All Pakistan Newspapers Society. Retrieved April 28, 2014, from http://www.apns.com.pk/member_publication/index.php

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