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Respiratory Syndrome SARS-CoV-2, which started in Wuhan, China in December 2019, has affected more than 200 countries. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic. During this pandemic, the media has played an important role in disseminating information regarding infection, precautions, and vaccination. In this context, this study analyses the framing of COVID-19 in the Pakistani press. For this study, the data was collected from two highly circulated Urdu language newspapers; Jang and Nawa-i-Waqt between February to July 2020. The findings revealed that by providing proper attention to COVID-19, the Pakistani newspapers (Daily Jang and Daily Nawa-i-Waqt) did not publish in-depth stories. Both newspapers relied on elite sources such as government, health department officials, and paramedical staff. The marginalized sources such as the public and labor were also cited in the news. The finding further revealed that most of the frames used were alarming and inducing panic. However, reassuring frames were used rarely. The stories emphasized more on death tolls and cases of COVID-19 in comparison to offering solutions frames. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Christchurch attack on March 15, 2019, on two mosques by a white supremacist is marked as a lethal incident in the history of New Zealand. In this deadly attack, at least 50 Muslims were killed and more than 50 got fatal injuries. The oddity found in this attack was that both the shootings, one on mosque Al Noor and the other on Linwood Islamic Centre, were broadcast live on Facebook. Though, the incident sparked a wave of anger throughout the Muslim world. However, that Jacinda Arden the Prime Minister of New Zealand stood in front and showed sympathy with Muslims by assuring them justice. In this way, the primary purpose of this study was to examine the representation and framing of Jacinda Ardern in post-Christchurch attack press coverage in the Muslim country newspapers. The study found that most of the stories related to Jacinda Ardern are found in Daily Dawn Pakistan, New Straits Times of Malaysia, and in the UAE’s leading newspaper Khaleej Times. However, the Tehran Times of Iran has given less coverage to Jacinda. Further, findings of the framing of Jacinda Ardern in the Muslim world press after Christchurch's attack showed most of the stories published in the four newspapers have and have framed her neutral and positive. Besides, frames like the icon of peace, anti-racist, Jacindamania, comparison of JA, and anti-Islamophobia are represented higher and paragon of leadership and redefining leadership are framed lowest in the Muslim world press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

News is the foundation of the media. The main function of news is to update the people and based on that they make decisions. Thus, the public needs to know about what news is. What are its functions? What is the credibility of news sources and the medium it is circulated? The public can get an insight into the above questions through news literacy. News media literacy is a specific part of media literacy. In this way, the purpose of this is to assess the news media literacy level of the students and their knowledge about the production of news media content. The researchers used a cross-sectional survey to collect data from purposively selected students of three leading public sector universities of Sindh, province of Pakistan. The findings exhibited that students at the public sector universities in Sindh province of Pakistan are literate about news and they know about contribution. The contributed content for media organizations particularly for traditional media in the content genres like articles, features, and writing letters to the editors and contributed for social media in the form of texts, photos, audio, and video clips as well. The studies related to media literacy should be conducted in other universities of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate knowledge about newspaper production stands as one of the key elements of media literacy among readers. The newspapers have a greater role in enhancing the skills of young people. The newspaper helps students, particularly, to improve their writing and reading skills. The purpose of this study to assess the perception of students in the public sector universities of Sindh province, Pakistan about print media production. In the context to achieve the purpose of the study, the data is collected through a cross-sectional survey from the students of three leading public sector universities in Sindh province, Pakistan. The findings showed that university students have accurate perceptions and knowledge regarding newspaper and magazine production. knew that in the field of journalism and news media who writes features, editorial page represents to the policy of newspaper, layout staff is responsible for newspaper or magazine layout, and the lead story is placed on the front page of a newspaper. Summarily, it was deduced that the university students were found to have news media literacy of the specific variables assessed and tested in this study, in the context of having correct perceptions related to newspaper and magazine production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass media is a part of the political economy and operates like other businesses in the market economy to earn profits. Though, media sells its content as a commodity to the customers and its consumption decides its rating and circulation figures. In that context, the figures attract advertisers to advertise their products through these highly rated and circulated media outlets. However, most of the revenue of any media organisation is gathered through advertisements. Thus, most of them became dependent on advertisers for revenue generation and it generates 'extra media influence' on media content, which is called advertiser pressure. Therefore, with this background, the fundamental objective of this study is to explore advertiser pressure on climate change content in the media in Pakistan. The data was collected through qualitative semi-structured in-depth interviews from purposively sampled 15 environmental journalists who are working for local and mainstream Pakistani press/media. Findings revealed that advertisers' pressure influences all types of content in the media in Pakistani media. However, advertiser pressure impacts more on climate change content because it is a soft news subject and needs more investment. Additionally, results showed that government advertisers influence more than corporations because the government is the primary advertisers for media content in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research about the role of mobile phone in different parts of the world shows that the fishing community is also increasingly adopting mobile phone and it is resulting in a more efficient fish market and reduction in uncertainty. The mobile phone is resulting in greater market integration and improvement in the quality of life of fishermen. Moreover, the mobile phone has also been helpful in connecting isolated fishermen communities to mainstream society and disaster risk reduction during the emergency. Similarly, the mobile phone is also playing an important role in helping the ordinary fishermen to get connected with the market and the device is emerging as a highly useful source of essential market information for fishermen communities. Purpose of the study: This article is based on an impact assessment study regarding mobile phone use by fishers of the Indus Delta for the marketing of their fish products. It also envisages the impact of socio-demographic factors on the usage of mobile phones by the fishing communities for better marketing of their output from the fisheries profession. Due to the increasing importance of mobile phones in creating market efficiency in rural markets all around the world, a study was conducted to investigate the impact of mobile on fish marketing in the deltaic region of Sindh Pakistan. Methodology: The data was accumulated by a cross-sectional survey. The data collection instrument was a close-ended questionnaire, and SPSS software was used to analyze the data. Main Findings: It was observed that the majority of the respondents acknowledged the role of mobile phone for receiving market information. That includes enquiring about fish prices, information about dealer buyer, and suitable market to sell their fish products. Applications of this study: this study will be helpful for the government to make policies to facilitate and improve the profession of fisheries for the fisher community in Pakistan. Novelty: This is the first systematic and scientific study to be conducted upon the fishermen of Indus Delta and their mobile usage pattern for fish production marketing purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horoscopes are considered as one of the important content items in the mass media. Many people perceive and believe that these Zodiac signs have an impact on their lives. That is why they check these signs on different media regularly. The purpose of this study was to determine the perception of Sindh University students about horoscope. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 100 students of Sindh University through a close-ended questionnaire. The results concluded that girls are more interested in horoscope than boys. The sources for horoscope prediction were mainly newspapers among the Sindh University students. The students reported that they read horoscope daily to skip the pressure and try to satisfy their minds. This research is limited to the University of Sindh students. In the future, the researchers should conduct a large-scale study with a more significant population to determine the perception of the public about horoscopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online digital culture and social media are integral to the lives of the youth, and the internet is fully embedded in their way of thinking and living (Jenzen, 2017). Though, social media has emerged as an instant two-way communication medium around the globe. It has become a significant part of a person's everyday life (Chauhan, 2020). Studies revealed that, like all other stakeholders of the society LGBT also use social media. Previously, no study has been conducted about social media use among transgender people in Pakistan. Thus, the purpose of this study to determine the social media usage patterns in transgender people in Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan. The researchers used a quantitative survey technique for data collection from 39 transgender people living Hyderabad with the help snowball sampling technique. Findings of this showed that most of the transgender people use Facebook and WhatsApp. Most of them spend above three hours daily on the use of social media, and the majority of them use social media the whole week. Besides, they have joined social media groups on Facebook and get friendship following through Real ID. Though most of them share others' posts on their wall. However, the purpose of social media usage among transgender people is to become more sociable and to create social identity. Instead of that, they entertain themselves through the sharing of pictures and posts on the wall by watching funny videos and movies. They also get information regarding social events, news, and current circumstances on social media. However, it is revealed that transgender people in Hyderabad did not follow government activities through social media. Besides, the findings showed that transgender people occasionally get information about their surroundings and get information about the activities of political leaders by social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses and establishes the Argument structure of the Sindhi verbs in Sindhi language. The study attempts to answer the research question: What are the Argument/thematic structures of the Sindhi verbs? The study analyses the argument structure of the Sindhi verbs and also finds how and what theta roles are assigned by the Sindhi verbs to their arguments. Each verb phrase in our data is analysed and studied in terms of Argument structure to find theta roles in the Sindhi language. The data have been analysed on the basis of the Carnie's (2006) theoretical framework; 'Theta Roles and Thematic Relation'. The data come from natural spoken Sindhi. Towards the end, it is found that the Sindhi language has all the theta roles which are proposed by Carnie (2006). These theta roles are assigned by the verbs to their arguments in sentences. Thus, this study confirms the presence of theta roles/thematic relations in Sindhi language. This study also serves as a preliminary in the area; it gives way for conducting similar research at broader level on the area to find more theta roles in Sindhi or any other language in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Muslim community in America has been facing turmoil, particularly after the events of 9/11. Muslims are facing a number of anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim discriminatory practices, biases, and sentiments from many Americans. These religious prejudices are apparent at the public and political leadership levels, as well as other facets of the country. The current study has concentrated on Trump's emerging ideology that positions him within anti-Islamic and anti- Muslim discourses since he announced his candidature for the presidency. The study aims to examine and pin point the self-other representations that are evident in the Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiments in Trump's statements during the American Presidential Elections of 2016. In order to examine Trump's prejudicial discourse, the research engaged with Critical Discourse Studies as its framework, with a specific focus upon Van Dijk's Ideological Square Model as well as NVIVO 12 Pro for linguistic inquiry. The results showed that the self-other binary is strongly evidenced in Trump's statements and that he employed various discursive techniques to represent Islam and Muslims in a negative manner, while representing himself as very patriotic to the country. To legitimatize his arguments, he deployed several rhetoric strategies, including victimization, presupposition, authority, number game, evidentiality, polarization, and populism. Keeping the religious and economic context in view, the research reveals that Donald Trump has represented Islam and Muslims as a negative phenomenon and presented himself as an Islamophobe by negatively targeting Islamic components, like Shariah and Jihad. In his prejudicial representation of Islam, most of the Islamic beliefs are represented as anti-women and anti-American, threatening the security of America and its very way of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]