Pakistani Media Users: From Political information Repertoires to Political Participation

Abstract

In this study using the repertoire approach the effect of the nature of the media use and its impact on political knowledge, political efficacy, and political participation was observed. The survey of 200 respondents was conducted which were randomly selected from two cities and two villages of Punjab. Latent class analysis was performed to find the hidden groups present in the data based on education, income, and traditional and social media use representing the constitution of the population of Pakistan. Further analysis was done based on the four groups thus obtained. It was hypothesized that richer media repertoires provide political information, information increases political knowledge and interest which thus, increases the political efficacy which is then translated into active traditional participation. The results revealed that effect of media repertoire on political participation appear to be influenced by the socioeconomic status of the media users. The groups having richer media repertoires and higher income level do show higher political interest and knowledge but tend to have lower political efficacy, and therefore less political participation. While opposite is true for the media users with lower income level.