Pakistan Journal of Criminology Vol. 11, Issue 02, April 2019 (63-82) Content Analysis of Crime Reporting in Print Media: Evidence from Pakistan Ikram Shah 1 , Noor Elahi 2 & Marryam Saeed 3 Abstract This research endeavor aims at systematically examining the newspapers‟ coverage of crimes incidents in Pakistan. A retrospective quantitative content analysis of Pakistani print media was conducted for a period of one year i.e. 1 st January 2017 to 31 st December 2017. Two reputed national level newspapers; Daily Dawn English-language and Daily Jang Urdu-language, were selected based on newspaper circulation ratings and readership. Descriptive analysis of the study highlights those discrepancies in crime reports exist between Daily Dawn and Daily Jang. Urdu-language newspaper gives more coverage and published articles on many types of crimes as compared to English-language daily. Similarly, English daily newspaper reported urban areas‟ crimes more frequently in comparison to Urdu daily, however, articles on violation against women and child abuse are equally reported in both dailies. Keywords: Crime, Media, Newspaper, crime Context Introduction Crime has many negative consequences and to a considerable extent it affects the quality of life across the globe in all societies. The effects of crime are viewed from both macro, and micro perspectives. From a macro perspective, crime undermines the state‟s ability, efficiency to promote and extension of development initiatives across its boundaries. At micro level, it restricts people‟s mobility, impedes public access to basic services and facilities, retards economic growth, limits the employment opportunities and destabilizes the total peace in a society (Blattman & Miguel, 2010; Cook, 2014; Driffield, Jones, & Crotty, 2013; Enamorado, López-Calva, & Rodríguez-Castelán, 2013). Both developed and developing countries are getting adversely affected by the crimes. According to UN (2005) report, the developing countries are ill-equipped to bear the cost of the 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Development Studies, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Islamabad. ikramshah@cuiatd.edu.pk 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Development Studies, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Islamabad. noorelahi@cuiatd.edu.pk 3 MS Scholar, Department of Development Studies, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Islamabad. m_saeed@yahoo.com