The Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) and the Centre for Research, Development, and Communication (CRDC) compared the actual number of crimes against women across Pakistan and those reported in the media.
According to the survey, the most common incidents of violence against women and children in September were kidnapping, rape, and sexual abuse.
Official police data was gathered by filing a ‘Right to Information request to provincial police agencies throughout the country, and responses were obtained from all provinces except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Furthermore, SSDO performed daily media analysis of 13 of Pakistan’s most popular newspapers to measure the attention dedicated to such problems in the mass media.
In September alone, the Punjab Police recorded an astounding 844 occurrences of female abduction. This number is quite concerning since it implies that 28 women are abducted on average daily, indicating that at least one woman is taken every hour.
According to the Punjab Police, 491 women were raped throughout the province in September, which means over a hundred women get raped per week, with an aggregate of 16 women raped daily. In Punjab, however, only 43 such occurrences were documented, according to media tracking.
The above statistics show that almost 91% of incidences of sexual violence go undocumented in the media, creating a false sense of security despite the high prevalence of the menace, in reality, the News has reported. Approximately 105 incidents of female murder were reported to police across the province, but only six were published in the media.
As with the previously described indicators, media reporting is minuscule compared to the actual number of incidents, showing a substantial gap in coverage, as only 5.7% of cases were reported in news stories.
The Executive Director of SSDO, Syed Kausar Abbas, expressed that the organization is hopeful that by comparing media monitoring statistics with official figures from the police, they can offer a detailed insight into what instances the media is bringing to notice, as well as what proportion of cases reach the mainstream media in the first place.
Source: Pro Pakistan