چکیده (انگلیسی):

This article looks into the position of agenda-setting of national press primarily focusing on national issues of vital importance during the phase of Parliamentary General Elections 2013 in Pakistan. The study finds the correlation between news papers’ agenda and public agenda, examining the influence of national press on public perception on the issue of salience by using triangulation; media agenda on ten national issues of top priority has been explored i.e. US-drone attacks, economic crisis, corruption, Indo-Pak relations, terrorism, energy crisis, Pak-Taliban talks, education, unemployment and health, at the front and back pages of three leading national popular daily Urdu Newspapers of Pakistan. Public agenda is scrutinized by survey research from 600 respondents, to explore what public perceive about these most important issues? The finding of this study reveals a moderate positive correlation between media agenda and public agenda. Hence, a significant positive correlation exists only on four out of ten national issues i.e. terrorism, energy crisis, US-drone attacks, and economic crisis. It is inferred that agenda setting of the press is dominant over plurality of public voice. This study has the strategic and policy implications.