Degree

BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Date of Award

Fall 2025

Date of Submission

2025-07-11

Advisor

Dr. Shumaila Ahmed, Assistant Professor SSLA, Department of Social Sciences

Project Type

SSLA Culminating Experience

Access Type

Restricted Access

Keywords

Digital Activism, Framing Theory, Moral Panic, Echo Chamber, Counter-narrative.

Abstract

Social media is the place of protest and communication as people of Pakistan connect digitally. This thesis will examine the use of social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook, as avenues of public participation on violent crime reporting in Pakistan. This study employs the cases of the Natasha Danish Murder Case, which occurred in 2024, and the Shahrukh Jatoi Murder Case, which took place in 2012, through qualitative content analysis to illustrate how crime-related discourse is discussed by users and digital activism is carried out. Based on the theoretical foundations of the media framing theory (Entman, 1993), this study establishes three main thematic framings. The first is the legal and judicial criticism, the second is the appeals to social justice, and the third is the moral and religious interpretations. Findings indicate that social media users contribute to discourse in a very active manner through affirming or challenging the class privilege, gender-based violence, and institutional failure. The posts in support of elite impunity and the failure of judges garnered the most interactions, indicating the level of frustration among people and the need for system reform. The paper highlights the participatory aspect of the digital platforms where meaning(s) are not only created by news media but also in the form of user-generated posts and comments. It also discusses ways in which echo chambers lead to moral panic, public polarization, and ideas related to justice and the judicial system in the country.

Pages

80

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