Climate Change in South Asia

Aim of the Study: This research investigates how the South Asian media covers climate-related issues. Countries in this region are highly vulnerable to climate risks, many are ranked among the top ten most climate-vulnerable nations, the study focuses on three South Asian countries—Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh—by analyzing the climate change coverage in leading English-language newspaper. It explores media coverage patterns, climate framing, and the influence of international reports publication on climate reporting.
Three South Asian countries i.e. Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh were selected in the current study with one leading English newspaper, i.e. Dawn, Time of India, and The Daily Star.
Over a two-year period (April 4, 2021 – April 3, 2023), all news stories and editorials from three leading South Asian English-language newspapers—Dawn (Pakistan), The Times of India (India), and The Daily Star (Bangladesh)—were collected and analyzed, with a total sample size of N = 1238.
In the present study, three South Asian newspapers were selected for content analysis. The sole access to these international newspapers was LexisNexis, which was reached through the US embassy in Islamabad. The selection criteria for the data pool LexisNexis contains all news items and editorials containing the term/ word ―climate change‖ from the three selected South Asian newspapers for a two-year time 2021-2023 (before and after one year of publishing of AR 6 (April 4, 2021 – April 3, 2023) and the keyword was ―Climate Change‖.
Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). With the help of SPSS, collected data was analyzed, explained, and interpreted. Different tests were used including frequencies, percentages, crosstabulation, and Chi-Square.