Repackaging News Content: Exploring Routines of Pakistan’s Wire Services
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59926/jodprp.vol03/01Keywords:
Wire services, news agencies, repackaging, Churnalism, media routinesAbstract
This study was conducted to explore editorial processes of wire services in Pakistan, specifically looking at repackaging of content to reproduce news – a phenomenon known as Churnalism. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from wire services operating in Islamabad, Pakistan. Editors of wire services, recognised by the government’s Press and Information Department (PID), including the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), were interviewed. It was found that wire services are heavily reliant on press releases, publicity reports, and monitoring of mainstream and social media for their reporting. Editors of wire services were of the view that their work is plagiarised, and this practice is more prevalent in regional newspapers. A strong dependence on government grants, allocated for news agencies, was also noted. No physical or online presence of several news agencies, recognised by the PID, could be found.
The scope of this article is related to the following SDG / SDGs.
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