Beyond Climate Visibility in the Global South: Ecological Risk Hierarchies and Framing Asymmetries in Pakistani Mainstream Media Climate Reporting

Abstract

In climate-vulnerable Global South settings, climate journalism is assessed largely through its visibility during disasters. This article argues that visibility is necessary but insufficient: journalistic performance depends on whether coverage explains causes, evaluates responsibility, and articulates responses. The objective of this study is to examine not only whether climate stories are present across ecological-risk clusters in Pakistan's media, but whether that coverage performs four framing functions of Problem Definition, Causal Diagnosis, Moral Evaluation, and Treatment Recommendation. Using quantitative content analysis, the study examined climate coverage in English- and Urdu-language newspapers and television news bulletins between 2022 and 2025, with each framing function assessed through a set of review-validated climate-communication strategies. Climate-story presence differed significantly across ecological-risk clusters: sudden, visually dramatic events such as floods and glacial outbursts received the greatest visibility, whereas slow-onset threats such as drought and water scarcity received the least. Among the coverage that carried climate stories, the four framing functions also differed significantly. Reporting was strongest at defining the climate problem and diagnosing its causes, weakest at moral evaluation, and intermediate at treatment recommendation, suggesting that media coverage is more likely to identify climate-related risks than to assign responsibility for these risks or propose potential solutions. The findings reveal a dual asymmetry: acute, crisis-compatible hazards attract greater visibility, while framing moves less consistently from identifying harm toward explaining causality, assigning responsibility, and recommending credible responses. The article advances climate journalism beyond episodic visibility toward sustained, causal, accountable, and response-oriented reporting.