The Influence Of Datafication On Newsroom Epistemologies: Perceptions Of Digital Journalists In Pakistan

Abstract

This study investigates the epistemic consequences of datafication within Pakistani broadcast newsrooms, a context marked by algorithmic dominance, economic precarity, and political constraint. While scholarship on data-driven journalism has largely focused on Western media systems, this research centers the Global South by examining how digital journalists and news directors in Pakistan negotiate editorial authority under the pressures of platform metrics and state influence. Drawing on three focus group discussions with 20 digital journalists and in-depth interviews with Senior Journalists from five major mainstream TV channels—Geo, ARY, Express, Samaa, and Dunya—the study explores how datafication reconfigures journalistic values, routines, and credibility norms. Thematic analysis reveals four key dynamics: the prioritization of virality over public interest, the erosion of investigative reporting, the institutionalization of "algorithmic validation" as a substitute for traditional verification, and the rise of emotional burnout among media professionals. Newsroom leaders report a "double bind"—trapped between market imperatives and political censorship—resulting in systemic complicity with metric-driven content strategies. These findings expose an epistemic crisis wherein truth-telling is subordinated to the logic of engagement, challenging dominant theoretical frameworks that treat datafication as a neutral innovation. The study contributes to critical journalism studies by theorizing "coercive datafication" and "platformized authoritarianism" as defining features of digital media systems in hybrid regimes like Pakistan’s