It’s now universally acknowledged in casual conversations that fewer people are watching news channels. Each time I am forced to tell someone new I meet what I do for a living, they confess (sometimes nonchalantly and sometimes self-consciously) their lack of interest in news channels. Anecdotally, this appears to be a sea change from, say, 2007, when everyone was glued to the television screens, as Pakistan went through one of its most tumultuous years. If the conversation continues for a bit, many even go so far as to explain they don’t read newspaper either. News is now delivered to them from their smartphones — it’s where they find out about breaking news, where they read analyses and even see the viral clips from talk shows or parliament which are the talk of the town.

It’s now universally acknowledged in casual conversations that fewer people are watching news channels. Each time I am forced to tell someone new I meet what I do for a living, they confess (sometimes nonchalantly and sometimes self-consciously) their lack of interest in news channels. Anecdotally, this appears to be a sea change from, say, 2007, when everyone was glued to the television screens, as Pakistan went through one of its most tumultuous years. If the conversation continues for a bit, many even go so far as to explain they don’t read newspaper either. News is now delivered to them from their smartphones — it’s where they find out about breaking news, where they read analyses and even see the viral clips from talk shows or parliament which are the talk of the town.

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