ARTICLE

COVERAGE OF POLITICAL NEWS IN TWEETS OF INTERNATIONAL NEWS AGENCIES A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF WORLDSYSTEMS COUNTRIES

05 Pages : 57-69

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gmcr.2021(VI-I).05      10.31703/gmcr.2021(VI-I).05      Published : Mar 2021

Coverage of Political News in Tweets of International News Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of World-Systems Countries

    This article attempts to study the flow of political news in tweets of four international news agencies: AP, AFP, Reuters and Xinhua, for 7 years from 2010 to 2016. Theoretically, the study takes its roots from the World System Theory of Immanuel Wallerstein. We used the content analysis method and examined the coverage of political news about 15 world countries (five core countries, five semi-periphery and five periphery countries) in 6746 tweets of international news agencies. We also analyzed the portrayal, retweet rate, favorite rate, and shared portrayal of world system countries. We found that there are significant differences in coverage of political news about the world countries in tweets of international news agencies. Moreover, Traditional hierarchies and structures of political news flow still exist on Twitter. Core countries are covered as well as shared more and positively as compare to the semiperiphery or periphery countries.

    Political News Coverage, News Tweets, World System Theory, International News Agencies
    (1) Muhammad Usman Saeed
    Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, University of Management and Technology, Sialkot Campus, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (2) Mudassar Hussain Shah
    Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Media Studies, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (3) Raza Waqas Ahmad
    PhD Scholar, Department of Media and Communication Studies, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
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Cite this article

    APA : Saeed, M. U., Shah, M. H., & Ahmad, R. W. (2021). Coverage of Political News in Tweets of International News Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of World-Systems Countries. Global Mass Communication Review, VI(I), 57-69. https://doi.org/10.31703/gmcr.2021(VI-I).05
    CHICAGO : Saeed, Muhammad Usman, Mudassar Hussain Shah, and Raza Waqas Ahmad. 2021. "Coverage of Political News in Tweets of International News Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of World-Systems Countries." Global Mass Communication Review, VI (I): 57-69 doi: 10.31703/gmcr.2021(VI-I).05
    HARVARD : SAEED, M. U., SHAH, M. H. & AHMAD, R. W. 2021. Coverage of Political News in Tweets of International News Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of World-Systems Countries. Global Mass Communication Review, VI, 57-69.
    MHRA : Saeed, Muhammad Usman, Mudassar Hussain Shah, and Raza Waqas Ahmad. 2021. "Coverage of Political News in Tweets of International News Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of World-Systems Countries." Global Mass Communication Review, VI: 57-69
    MLA : Saeed, Muhammad Usman, Mudassar Hussain Shah, and Raza Waqas Ahmad. "Coverage of Political News in Tweets of International News Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of World-Systems Countries." Global Mass Communication Review, VI.I (2021): 57-69 Print.
    OXFORD : Saeed, Muhammad Usman, Shah, Mudassar Hussain, and Ahmad, Raza Waqas (2021), "Coverage of Political News in Tweets of International News Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of World-Systems Countries", Global Mass Communication Review, VI (I), 57-69
    TURABIAN : Saeed, Muhammad Usman, Mudassar Hussain Shah, and Raza Waqas Ahmad. "Coverage of Political News in Tweets of International News Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of World-Systems Countries." Global Mass Communication Review VI, no. I (2021): 57-69. https://doi.org/10.31703/gmcr.2021(VI-I).05