Resisting the Established: The Role of Mobile Media in Political Journalism in Pakistan

Brian McNair, an influential journalism scholar, argued in his book The Sociology of Journalism that “the available technology of newsgathering, production, and dissemination crucially determines the form and content of journalism.” Although this statement was made over two decades ago, it remains highly relevant today as technology continues to influence the field significantly. Mobile media stands out as a particularly powerful technological innovation that has immensely impacted the journalism industry. Nevertheless, research exploring the role of mobile media in journalism, especially political journalism, in the Global South is limited. This paper employs a mixed methods research design to examine political journalists’ perceptions of mobile media’s influence on political journalism in Pakistan. It specifically investigates the effects of mobile media on opinion diversity, news credibility and press freedom within the country. The study includes an online survey of Pakistani journalists and semi-structured interviews with political journalists and reporters working in the news beats of parliament (comprising the national assembly and senate), provincial assemblies, the prime minister’s office (the head of government) and political parties.