‘Climate front lines’: A comparative examination of climate change coverage in Western and Bangladeshi broadcast media

This comparative study investigates framing and sourcing patterns in news coverage of climate change in Bangladeshi and Western broadcast media in 2022. We explored coverage in two of the most-viewed Bangladeshi television stations (Somoy TV and Independent TV) and compared it with CNN and BBC. Our findings showed that Bangladeshi media introduced four newly identified frames in their coverage: displacement, food insecurity, infrastructure vulnerability, and unemployment/poverty frames. In contrast, Western news outlets focused primarily on established frames already prevalent in climate change literature, including scientific consensus, public health, disaster, human interest, response efficacy, and attribution of responsibility. Coverage in the two regions also differed significantly in terms of source selection. Bangladeshi channels predominantly utilized government officials as their primary source, followed by general population or affected citizens, and lastly, experts. Conversely, CNN and BBC relied on experts as their main source. Their coverage occasionally featured affected individuals, and many of their stories provided only visuals without including any human sources. The results reveal disparities between Global South and Global North journalism – where differing institutional hierarchies and cultural narratives produce uneven climate storytelling and accountability framing.