Investigative Reporting in Print Media: A Comparative Analysis of Dawn and The News between 2014 and 2019

Abstract

By exploring the comparative rate of change in investigative reporting of two English Newspapers, The News and Dawn from 2014-2019, the paper attempts to show the print coverage given to investigative news reporting. The methodology employed in this enquiry is quantitative in which investigative news reports of Dawn and The News were categorized into frames under the theoretical framework of framing theory. Principally five frames were incorporated in individual news stories including conflict, attribution of responsibility, economic, human interest and morality frame. These investigative stories were further quantified in the context of social, political, economic and media themes in which news reports were framed in these newspapers and the level of significance given to each frame. Data analysis showed that there is increase in investigative reporting in Dawn except for the year 2015 whereas The News findings suggested increase in investigative reporting from 2014-2015 followed by a decline in 2015-2017. In the news coverage of investigative reports, Social theme enjoyed the most reporting by Dawn whereas The News predominantly reported news falling in political theme. In measuring the level of significance, The News has surpassed Dawn in reporting of investigative stories in the Conflict Frame which involves any disagreement among individual or groups. For attribution of responsibility frame, The News has put more focus in giving significance to news stories attributing responsibility to government or official. In Economic frame, Dawn has slightly more investigative news stories with respect to The News. Dawn has also succeeded The News in putting Human Face to the issues covered in Human Interest frame. Moreover, The News has given more significance to reference of morality in news stories framing than Dawn.