Journalistic Use of WhatsApp: Measuring Perception of Journalists in Islamabad

Abstract

This study attempts to explore view of the local journalists regarding use of WhatsApp as a news gathering and sharing forum. Under such ambitious circumstances, many are associated with profession of media so, the study envisions to probe their working practices in the age of internet in order to understand, identify and effort for possibilities that could make their work easy and resulting in promotion of ethical, unbiased, objective and informed reporting. The study also explores main factors behind the use of WhatsApp as a news gathering tool by the journalists and what features of WhatsApp are regarded most by the journalist. Moreover, it measures the frequency of WhatsApp use by local journalists for processing news stories and comprehends the level of confidence media professionals have on chat application. The study is a quantitative research. It has used the primary data gathered through a questionnaire from targeted population (207 male and female journalists and reporters based in Islamabad) using a survey research method. A non-probability sampling technique is used while the data is gathered using a research questionnaire comprised of close ended questions with five point Likert scale responses. The study finds that majority of the respondents (local journalists) rely on WhatsApp messenger for the purpose of gathering and sharing news, they valued its prominent features, perceived it as a trustworthy tool for information sharing and share confidence on its security and authenticity as well as reliability of the information received through it. The study also finds that in current age of technology, use of advanced tools for gathering and sharing news worthy information is inevitable for media professionals.