Deliberative Democracy: Effect of News Media and Interpersonal Conversation on Quality of Public Opinion

Issues are debated on media and then redistributed into society through interpersonal conversation.Public deliberations lead to formation of public opinion on the issues of public concern. Public opinion refers to the views held by those who participate in public discourse. Quality of public opinion is based on quality of the discourse and quantity of the participation. The main objective of the study is to analyze the effects of the media on quality of the public opinion.A sample of 338 respondents was selected from various sections of the society, i.e. semi and unskilled labor, government employees, professionals, students, and housewives from the provincial capitals of Pakistan. Aquestionnaire consisting of 48 items(Kim et al, 1999) regarding conversation patterns was adapted to use in Pakistani context.According to the results of the study when an issue was frequently discussed in talk shows on TV channels,people discussed it in their interpersonal conversation. Increase in quantity of information from different perspectives enhanced quality of public opinion.