Media, Disasters, and the Global South: Comparing Global North and South Media Framing on Pakistan’s 2022 Floods

Abstract

The 2022 floods in Pakistan, one of the most recent catastrophic natural disasters, highlighted critical vulnerabilities in governance, infrastructure, and climate resilience. This study investigates the framing of the floods in newspapers from the Global North and Global South. The newspapers under investigation included The Guardian, The New York Times, The Times of India, and Dawn. The study used a cross-sectional research design. Under the rubric of framing theory, utilizing quantitative content analysis, the study examines the prevalence of key frames in the press of the Global North and the Global South. The findings revealed a dominance of solution, vulnerability, and responsibility frames. Moreover, the Global North and Global South framed human causes, i.e., larger societal forces, as responsible, rather than natural causes. In addition, the victimization frame is more focused than community-led efforts. Notably, the solutions primarily emphasized international aid and climate adaptation, and other local governance and community adaptation frames. These results underscore the dual role of Global North and Global South media both as advocates for global climate justice and narrators of humanitarian crises, while also highlighting gaps in resilience narratives and local agency. This study contributes to framing theory by exploring the interplay of global and local narratives in disaster reporting. It emphasizes the need for balanced, actionable solutions in media discourse on climate-induced disasters to ensure climate justice.

1. Introduction

Extreme weather events or natural disasters have happened more frequently in recent decades (Jia et al., 2022). Natural disasters, particularly in the Global South, have far-reaching socio-economic and environmental consequences due to the destruction associated with these disasters (Jadhav et al., 2025). Put differently, international media give them substantial coverage (Reis et al., 2017). The 2022 floods in Pakistan were one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in recent history, affecting 33 million people, killing over 1400 people, and causing extensive infrastructural damage (Wyns, 2022). Floods are assumed to result from extreme and unpredictable rainfalls, unanticipated heat waves, and unusual climate change effects (Chen et al., 2024). How disasters like these are portrayed in the media affect how the public perceives the event and influences governmental and international responses. News media reflect and shape public opinion by defining and limiting public discourse around major events (Holliman, 2004; Miles & Morse, 2007) and constructing sense-building about the event through informal learning of the community (Nisbet & Feldman, 2011). Regarding natural disasters, the media are a powerful tool for influencing public perceptions of the risks associated with the disasters (Carvalho & Burgess, 2005). Media play a role at both the local and broader scale in disaster-affected communities’ psychological and physical coping or recovery processes (Gortner & Pennebaker, 2003). Research has shown that media coverage of disasters can evoke public empathy, mobilize aid, and shape disaster relief strategies (Yell, 2012). However, this coverage is often framed in specific ways that highlight certain aspects of the disaster while downplaying others, influencing how the audience understands the event, as defined by Entman (1993).

There is a way in which natural disasters are constructed to give the event specific causes, impacts, and remedies. As framing theory posits, media provide cues on what aspects of reality to pay attention to and how, and perhaps even how to respond (Entman, 1993; Goffman, 1974). It is important to understand that the framing theory offers a perspective for analyzing media representation. Measuring content analysis based on framing theory, the analyzed media presents the event and builds a narrative. It selects certain aspects of the event that should be accentuated so the audience can perceive and respond to them. Entman’s (1993) classic definition of framing highlights the four functions of frames: identification of the issue, diagnosing the causes of the problem, making a moral judgment, and recommending the appropriate solutions. In the case of natural disasters, the theory allows us to understand how responsibility, risk, preparedness, and possible solutions are constructed, which in turn inform the ways that the public and policymakers engage with such frames as they almost always orbit around the humanitarian crisis, the local people’s ability to bounce back, or the role of foreign assistance (Leitch & Bohensky, 2014; Olsen et al., 2003).

In particular, news media framing can shape the perception of responsibility, whether the disaster is attributed to natural causes, such as climate change, or human actions, such as poor governance and inadequate infrastructure (Iyengar, 1994). Additionally, the media can portray affected communities as vulnerable victims or as resilient actors, which can influence the level of empathy and the willingness of the international community to assist and support rebuilding and rehabilitation (Leitch & Bohensky, 2014; Xu & Zhang, 2024). These frames also shape discussions about solutions, whether the focus is on immediate relief efforts or long-term structural changes (Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007; Thistlethwaite et al., 2019).

Over the last decade or so, analyzing media coverage of natural disasters has become a research area of interest as it relates to perception and policy changes (Borah, 2009; Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007; Buoncompagni, 2024; Greenberg & Scanlon, 2016; Jones et al., 2022). The calamities, such as floods in countries in the Global South, particularly in Pakistan, are described in a manner that lends to power relations and justice (Dhar et al., 2023; Faber & Schlegel, 2017). National and international newspapers like The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and BBC News, among others, are fundamental sources that help construct these representations around these disasters in other countries because local media may not have the same outreach as the ones cited earlier or do not have the same international appeal and is persuasively influential (Gilboa, 2005; McNair, 2003; Salameh Salameh, 2022; Seib, 2005). This representation by the international media influenced the approaches used to analyze and respond to the events in the country.

The literature on media coverage of natural disasters in Pakistan covers the themes of social responsibility (Zaheer, 2016b), risk management (Zaheer, 2016a), comparative coverage of Urdu and English newspapers (Javed, 2021), role of media in rehabilitation in the wake of natural disasters (Muzamill, 2012), impact of social media sentiments on government response during natural disasters (Tariq et al., 2025), the role of digital media in disaster management (Anis & Ashfaq, 2023), and the role of Twitter during the 2010 floods in Pakistan (Murthy & Longwell, 2013). Moreover, previous research extensively explored media coverage of natural disasters (Greenberg & Scanlon, 2016; Lowrey et al., 2007; Magontier, 2020; Monahan & Ettinger, 2018; Yan & Bissell, 2018). However, the existing literature focuses predominantly on the Western perspective on disasters, overlooking the unique socio-political and environmental contexts of South Asian countries such as Pakistan. Moreover, the international media’s representation of disasters in the Global South is still less explored (Dhakal, 2018; Hall, 2019; Sood et al., 1987). Indeed, limited research investigates cross-sectional differences in responsibility attribution in global media coverage and potential solutions (Gierlach et al., 2010; Liang et al., 2014; Matthews, 2019; Quarantelli & Wenger, 1990; Rothman, 2015). This gap is especially prominent when discovering how global discourses affect policy interventions or public perceptions in vulnerable areas (Adger & Brooks, 2003; Benevolenza & DeRigne, 2019; Hallegatte, 2014; Peduzzi, 2019). Nevertheless, there is limited research on how international newspapers attribute responsibility, frame narratives of vulnerability and resilience, and link specific frames to particular solutions concerning natural disasters in the Global South. To bridge this gap in the literature, this study explores the framing of natural disasters in international media to bridge the gap in research.

In addition, considering the magnitude and devastation caused by the 2022 floods in Pakistan, this natural disaster provides a compelling case study for examining how natural disasters are covered and framed in the international media. Like many countries in the Global South, Pakistan is acutely adversely affected by climate change, and the presentation of this vulnerability through the lens of the media, natural and human, subsequently influences an appropriate response by national and global actors. This study extends Entman’s framing theory by applying it to a Global South context, focusing on the 2022 floods in Pakistan. Moreover, the study introduces a comparative lens to analyze responsibility attribution (human vs. natural causes) and its implications for global climate justice narratives through a robust content analysis of more than 2000 news stories from the Global North and Global South media outlets (The Guardian, The New York Times, The Times of India and Dawn to identifying the dominant frames (responsibility, vulnerability, resilience, and solutions) used in international coverage of natural disasters in the Global South. The study further highlights the role of the media in the Global North and Global South in shaping narratives around governance failures and climate change, and, hence, provides insights for policymakers and humanitarian agencies on leveraging media frames to mobilize global support and resources. The study significantly contributes to improving disaster communication strategies, emphasizing the integration of local voices, and promoting sustainable solutions like community adaptation and governance reforms.

1.1. Literature Review

This literature review seeks to review the available literature on how natural disasters are portrayed in media, especially in the Global South, and show why taking a critical lens to this construction is important. The media significantly shape public perception of natural disasters, especially in the Global South, where climate change often exacerbates vulnerabilities due to socio-economic inequalities, poor infrastructure, and environmental risks. However, the countries in the Global South are contributing no significant carbon emissions. It is therefore important to know how the media portray these disasters to look at the larger picture regarding society’s concern and policy making, in addition to the effort of raising funds for the disasters, since that is how the world wants to see the imminent catastrophe that is going to be caused by global warming. The media control the public’s understanding of natural disasters and the policies to be implemented. Media communication educates the audience on the event and conditions people on risk, responsibility, and response (Franks, 2006). Disasters in the Global South, like the 2022 floods in Pakistan, are covered extensively in international media, with narratives that can evoke empathy and mobilize international aid or reinforce stereotypes of helplessness and dependency (Wasserman, 2018). Nisbet (2019) explored the framing of climate change and environmental disasters, arguing that media representations that emphasize natural causes tend to externalize the problem, attributing the cause to nature rather than human, suggesting that these events are inevitable and beyond human control. In contrast, framing that depicts failures of governance and infrastructure for disaster risk entices a more rigorous inquiry into the human contribution towards raising disaster risks. It also lays the foundation for the public’s decision-making process and helps redefine the discourse on disaster risk management and resilience.

Several authors found that media portrayals of disasters tend to act in the interest of Western media and enhance Western philanthropic frames that amplify issues of short-term relief and exclude long-term structural problems (Pfefferbaum et al., 2015). One study analyzed media coverage of the Uttarakhand floods in Indian media outlets and concluded that reporters shifted their attention from the victims and emergency response in the first days of coverage to the almost complete neglect of the environmental and political causes behind the disaster. This means that, in addition to framing the nature and scope of the disaster and affecting public understanding of the event through its coverage, media frames also define what solutions are deemed appropriate at a given time. These solutions could be short-term humanitarian supplies and shelter. In addition, the solutions may be long-term policy shifts aimed at reducing future risky events. Such coverage, at times, may continue to perpetuate the dependency of the developing world on the developed world, and make little effort to define the agency of the communities, who are represented as powerless victims in the Global South (Boykoff, 2007). The importance of balanced media coverage in disaster contexts cannot be overstated. Research by Chouliaraki (2006) pointed out that the role of the media can help to turn the victim communities on or off by either narrating their coping strategies and resilience, or only presenting them as victims. Thus, depending on the disaster framing, the course of action, relief efforts, governance change, or an effort to cope with climate change, is determined and communicated mainly as the strategy (Carvalho, 2007). Scholars have emphasized that there is coloniality in how media cover natural disasters because the coverage leans towards a Western-centric perspective, perpetuating power imbalances between the Global North and Global South (Chouliaraki & Stolić, 2019). This structural bias may play an essential role in forming a restricted worldview of the disasters taking place in the Global South and their causes. For instance, the Western media might superimpose destruction, suffering, and poverty over the originality, resilience, and collective effort to rebuild and reconstruct, as seen in many affected parts of the Global South (Jin, 2021). Another factor that is common in reporting natural disasters in the Global South is media sensationalism. The tendency to focus on dramatic images eliciting strong emotional effects, often by portraying devastation and suffering, may lead to the neglect of underlying systemic factors and the experiences of affected communities (Chouliaraki, 2006). Furthermore, frequent and overexposure to images of disasters by the media only eventuate in what has come to be known as disaster fatigue, whereby the general public will cease to offer prolonged empathy and come up with poor responses to such disasters (Pfefferbaum et al., 2018). Franks (2006) carried out a study on the portrayal of humanitarian disasters in Western media and discovered that the nature of reporting is sensationalized about numbers of deaths, amount of destruction, and losses in simple messages that provide quick news without providing necessary information on the socio-political and economic factors that make such disasters seem larger than they are. While this helps mobilize ‘emergency aid’, the issues that need to be campaigned for in the long term, such as poverty, inequality, and the need for basic infrastructure, are often lost. This sensationalistic framing can hinder a comprehensive understanding of communities’ long-term impacts and needs in the aftermath of a disaster. The role mainstream media plays, especially in portraying the nature and severity of natural disasters, mobilization, and response from the global community, cannot be ignored. However, international media salientize the local voices and focus more on the global frames (Sood et al., 1987). Miller et al. (2016) opine that a failure to incorporate the local perspective obstructs the understanding of the true nature of the calamity or difficulties felt by the affected communities due to disaster and associated problems. Without incorporating the perspective of the affected communities and victims directly, it is hard to display the true nature and severity of the disaster.

There is a tendency for global media to shift blame and responsibilities back to the vulnerable affected communities within the Global South, thereby recycling stereotypes and ignoring structural factors that make the communities so vulnerable. This is performed by excluding major concerns such as global warming, carbon emission, climate change, lack of infrastructure, poverty, and political corruption, hence perpetuating oppression of power relations. Instead, scholars should call for an increase in humane, accountable, and empathic reporting of such disasters emphasizing the need for joint global responsibility and responding to the effects of natural disasters taking into account the true causes of global warming and climate change as well as share the voice of the affected people (Obradovich & Guenther, 2016). Since disasters and devastation are directly linked, the disaster influences action and reactions towards the disaster and its global media portrayal. It has been found that the kind of frame adopted for these events (such as the “natural disaster frame” or the “climate change frame”) can assist in how the reduction and apportionment of such events is facilitated (Carvalho, 2007). Multiple relationships exist between depicting natural disasters and poverty, underdevelopment, and governance in the Global South (Birkmann et al., 2013). They can determine who receives what, which solutions are given attention, and the level of support provided to the affected areas. Framing theory is a tool that can help explain how the media can focus on some information regarding a disaster while omitting other information, already influencing people’s empathy (Entman, 1993). By analyzing media coverage of the 2022 floods in international newspapers, this study seeks to understand how these frames were employed and their implications. Considering the nature of the study, this study focuses on four key frames: responsibility, vulnerability, resilience, and solutions.

1.2. Framing Responsibility

One of the primary aspects of framing involves the attribution of responsibility. Previous research has shown how responsibility is framed in the media (Iyengar, 1994). For instance, when human factors, such as governance failures, are highlighted, the focus may shift toward accountability and demands for systemic change involving local governance and community (Boykoff, 2007). Regarding the 2022 floods in Pakistan, responsibility framing is an efficient approach to public perception of the disaster. In what ways did media outlets in the Global North and Global South establish this balance of responsibility, whether oriented more toward natural factors or governance failures, define public sympathy, and further the international policy response regarding climate change and global warming (Obradovich & Guenther, 2016)? When responsibility is attributable to climate change, the global media influence international support for funding adaptation to climate change. However, responsibility is about failures in governance; it can create awareness of the need for change within the Pakistani disaster management and response systems.

The framing of natural disasters in the Global North and South could be vulnerability versus resilience. Vulnerability framing serves dominant narratives of disaster-affected communities as passive victims whose lives depend on external assistance. This helps maintain the idea or stereotype of the Global South’s countries’ perpetual reliance on foreign assistance (Pantti, 2021). Vulnerability framing usually portrays affected populations as victims, waiting for relief assistance. This can recreate the stereotyped imagery of the Global South as a region of permanent emergency, thereby contributing to a sort of ‘disaster pornography’, an exposure of human suffering that does not impart meaningful information about the actual causes of risk and vulnerability. At the same time, this may produce emotional identification with a distant audience, and thus spur mobilization for humanitarianism; it also continues to recreate structures of imperialism (Chouliaraki, 2006; Clissold, 2010). Resilience framing concerns communities’ ability to bounce back, recover, and rebuild after disasters. For instance, Norris et al. (2008) argued that resilience is an important determinant in the response to and aftermath of disasters; the media frames that refer to local recovery can help to instill power and agency in the populations concerned. Nonetheless, resilience framing can also allow for the negative structural factors that make the population of a community vulnerable to disasters. Still, the resilience framing may occasionally prevent an understanding of the conditions that made them so susceptible in the first place, such as poor housing or the lack of collective actions by governments (Leitch & Bohensky, 2014).

From the perspective of the floods of 2022, it is essential to present the affected communities in Pakistan through the press in the Global North and Global South, because this is the main factor in addressing the global communities regarding Pakistan’s ability to address the challenges. However, if the media primarily focuses on the vulnerability of these communities, it may reinforce the perception that Pakistan is incapable of managing such crises without external assistance (Akram et al., 2023; Bibi, 2024).

1.3. How Global North and South Media Frame Possible Solutions

Media framing of solutions to natural disasters is highly influential in shaping policy discourses. The literature shows that media rarely suggest likely solutions to the problem (Kensicki, 2004). However, when the media frames emphasize long-term problem solutions regarding constitutional changes or climate change cures, media frames help advance other topics on sustainable development and disaster risk reduction (Boykoff, 2007; Carvalho, 2007). Underdeveloped countries such as Pakistan in the Global South have minimal carbon emissions. However, the span of destruction that emanates from climate change and global warming is much more extensive than in developed countries because of the weak infrastructure and unpreparedness of these countries against natural disasters (Pelling, 2001). Dhakal (2018), in his study on media coverage of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, concluded that while there was concentrated coverage on the immediate disaster phase, later media coverage shifted towards the disaster and developmental phases of disaster response that require long-term reconstruction, rebuilding, and governance structures, among other attributes. Such changes in the media narrative ensured that international attention on the country’s reconstruction continued, even after the disaster’s first few months or years.

Boykoff and Boykoff (2007) studied how climate change was reported in U.S. and U.K. media after natural disasters and found that while some studies have started acknowledging the role played by climate change in contributing to such calamities, most of them reported these calamities in isolation, rather than as part of the larger process of climate change. Similarly, Carvalho (2007) identified the ideological nature of media coverage of climate change and agreed that contemporary media frames tend to reflect political and economic interests and, therefore, are selective when presenting ‘responsibility’ issues and ‘solutions.’ In the context of the 2022 floods in Pakistan, these frames become particularly relevant and important. The framing of the floods as a result of natural causes (e.g., monsoon rains exacerbated by climate change) or human causes (e.g., poor governance and infrastructure) will shape public empathy and international policy responses. Framing theory, thus, provides a foundation for understanding how the international media’s portrayal of floods influences both the perception of Pakistan’s vulnerability and the long-term solutions proposed for mitigating future disasters. This paper demonstrates how an analytical inclusion of approaches to climate change adaptation and resilience will improve the conceptualization of the subject under consideration: media representations of natural disasters in the Global South. Research has been performed on climate change impacts, human vulnerability, and how communities respond to these changes (Hoffman, 2011; Kelman & West, 2009). From these works, stronger attention has to be paid to the orientation on adaptation measures: the given media discourses refer to the community in a disaster-related context. Sharing success stories from the Global South in adaptation and building resilience can help inform policy and decisions and ensure sustainable development in vulnerable areas. This literature review discussed different aspects of media and natural disasters within the Global South context. It has been found that it has features such as power relations, a Western-centric perspective, sensationalism, victim-blaming, and marginalization of local voices, as pointed out in the prior research. Further, it has explained how disaster framing, environmental justice, climate change adaptation and resilience, and historical context help analyze and evaluate media representations of natural disasters in the Global South. By investigating these themes, this research expects to understand the 2022 floods in Pakistan and how they have been depicted in key international media outlets.

1.4. Research Questions

Under the rubric of framing theory, the researchers proposed research questions to investigate the framing of international media outlets regarding the 2022 floods in Pakistan. Specifically, the study focuses on media outlets such as The Guardian, The New York Times, Times of India, and Dawn, covering the time frame from the onset of the floods in 2022 to the following months. After reviewing the literature, the researchers put forward the following research questions:

RQ1:

Which frames (responsibility, vulnerability, resilience, and solutions) are most frequently used in Global North and Global South media outlets’ coverage of the 2022 floods in Pakistan?

RQ2:

Whether the Global North and Global South media outlets attribute responsibility thematically or episodically for the 2022 floods in Pakistan.

RQ3:

How do Global North and Global South newspapers frame narratives of vulnerability (e.g., victimization) and resilience (e.g., community-led efforts) in their coverage of the 2022 floods in Pakistan?

RQ4:

How do major Global North and Global South newspapers link specific frames to particular solutions (e.g., international aid, local governance reforms, and climate change adaptation) in their coverage of the 2022 floods in Pakistan?

These research questions aim to delve into the context of the 2022 floods in Pakistan and their media representations. The study can comprehensively understand the framing, narratives, representation of local voices, and climate change discourse in shaping the media landscape during the floods by addressing these questions. The findings can contribute to a critical analysis of media representations of natural disasters in the Global South and inform efforts to improve media coverage, public perception, and policy responses in the future.

2. Research Design

A cross-sectional research design is used to investigate and fix the responsibility and moral evaluation of the actors involved, and likely solutions by international media outlets. Given the quantitative focus, the study employed content analysis of 11971 news stories from The Guardian, The New York Times, The Times of India, and Dawn. A coding sheet was developed based on framing theory, focusing on:

• Frames: responsibility, vulnerability, resilience, and solutions.
• Responsibility attribution: human causes (e.g., governance) vs. natural causes (e.g., climate change).
• Proposed solutions: governance reforms, international aid, community adaptation, and climate action.
• Social media engagement (estimated based on article tone and focus).

2.1. Content Analysis of Media Coverage

The news stories published in national and international media outlets are content analyzed to identify the frame employed to frame the 2022 floods in Pakistan. The content analysis is based on a large-scale, systematic coding of media articles related to the 2022 floods, employing a deductive approach informed by framing theory. The analysis focuses on the presence and frequency of specific frames in media coverage and the prominence of these frames across different media platforms.

Sample selection: media coverage has been sampled from leading international and national news outlets, including traditional media outlets (e.g., The New York Times, The Times, Dawn, and The Times of India). Two thousand news articles were collected using LexisNexis. After screening and cleaning, the content of 11,971 news stories was analyzed using SPSS version 21, ensuring coverage from the start of the floods to three months afterward. The news stories for analysis were collected from 15 August 2022 to 14 August 2023. This was the time that started with floods and lasted three months after the floods.

Unit of analysis: each news article or post is the unit of analysis. This includes the headline, lead paragraph, and main body of text.

Coding scheme: the content is coded according to a predefined coding scheme based on frames derived from framing theory. The coding scheme categorizes each article based on the following key frames:

Natural vs. human causes frame: identifying whether the article attributes the floods primarily to natural factors (e.g., extreme weather) or human factors (e.g., poor infrastructure, governance failures).

Victimization vs. resilience frame: identifying whether the article frames affected communities primarily as victims or emphasizes their resilience and recovery ability.

Aid frame: whether the article calls for international aid or focuses on local recovery efforts.

Blame attribution: whether the article assigns blame to local authorities, international actors, or no one explicitly.

Solution frame: whether the article promotes short-term solutions (e.g., emergency relief) or long-term structural reforms (e.g., climate adaptation, infrastructure improvement).

Intercoder reliability: to ensure reliability, two trained coders independently code a subset of articles (approximately 20%) to calculate inter-coder reliability using Cohen’s kappa. A reliability score of 0.80 was achieved, which is acceptable.

2.2. Data Analysis

The data from the content analysis were analyzed using descriptive statistics to identify patterns and relationships between frames and public perception. It is customary that the level of measurement of data determines the statistical test we use to analyze the data (Mahmood & Yousaf, 2024). The level of measurement in the current project is categorical; therefore, descriptive and categorical tests are appropriate for analyzing the news stories published in national and international media outlets on floods.

3. Results

To answer the research question, the news stories were content analyzed to identify the prevalence of frames, the responsibility attribution function of frames, and the recognition of episodic and thematic frames in the published news articles in national and international media outlets. The news stories were content analyzed, and the results were presented point by point. Overall, 11,971 news stories in four Global North and Global South newspapers on the 2022 floods were content analyzed and published.

To answer RQ1,

Table 1. Which frames (responsibility, vulnerability, resilience, and solutions) are most frequently used in media coverage of the 2022 floods in Pakistan across Global North and Global South news outlets?

Newspapers	Responsibility Frame	Vulnerability Frame	Resilience Frame	Solutions Frame	Total
Dawn	859	849	156	865	2729
The Guardian	195	211	201	211	818
The New York Times	159	169	161	169	658
The Times of India	53	57	54	57	221
Total	1266	1286	572	1302	4426

indicates that international media outlets frame floods in Pakistan using four frames, i.e., responsibility frame, vulnerability frame, resilience frame, and solutions frame. The resilience frame is underreported among the four frames compared to the other three. The solution frame is the most prevalent frame among the four frames utilized by media outlets. Global South newspapers published the highest number of frames. Notably, Dawn is the national newspaper of Pakistan, and keeping in mind the proximity of the floods and their impacts, these stories are justifiable. In the Global North, British media outlets also published many more frames to cover floods than American newspapers. However, notably, Indian media outlets provided nominal coverage, even though they are a neighboring country.

Table 2. Whether the major Global North and Global South media outlets attribute responsibility thematically or episodically for the 2022 floods in Pakistan.

Newspapers	Responsibility Frame: Natural Causes	Responsibility Frame: Human Causes	Total
Dawn	154	795	949
The Guardian	200	150	350
The New York Times	163	120	283
The Times of India	52	42	94
Total	569	1107	1676

further elaborates on the responsibility frame regarding natural causes versus human causes. The news reports focus more on the human causes of floods, such as government failure, incompetence, and poor infrastructure. This framing draws attention away from the thematic natural causes of floods, such as global warming and climate change, which are primarily caused by carbon emissions. Conspicuously, Global South media outlets attributed responsibility to human causes of floods than all other media outlets that blamed and attributed responsibility to natural causes of floods. This finding is interesting because Global North media outlets mainly frame the floods in Pakistan to be due to larger natural forces and emphasize climate justice for a country that does not contribute to the carbon emissions and other pollutants that are the leading cause of climate change. This framing responsibility function is significant in developing a narrative that influences the public understanding of the acts that are blamed for the causes of floods in the Global South, especially Pakistan. Interestingly, Pakistan is affected by climatic injustice, being the most affected country. However, the leading and most-read newspapers in the country that influence policy and public narratives equally are framing the responsibility of floods as human-caused. This framing draws attention away from the advanced Global North countries, the main contributors to climate change.

Table 3. How do major Global North and Global South media outlets frame narratives of vulnerability (e.g., victimization) and resilience (e.g., community-led efforts) in their coverage of the 2022 floods in Pakistan?

Newspapers	Vulnerability Frame (Victimization)	Resilience Frame (Community-Led Efforts)	Total
Dawn	849	156	1005
The Guardian	211	201	412
The New York Times	169	161	330
The Times London	211	201	412
The Times of India	57	54	111
Total	1497	773	2270

shows that media outlets frame floods in Pakistan regarding vulnerability framing, highlighting affected communities as victims of natural disasters, and downplaying the resilience frame. As a result of the victim framing of the floods, the local resilience of the communities to deal with the disasters is undermined, and reliance on foreign aid is highlighted. The Global South and Global North media outlets mainly focus on the victimization of the local communities. Therefore, external aid is the only solution to address the disasters in the Global South. The vulnerability framing explicates the weakness of the local communities regarding disasters such as floods and other natural disasters.

Table 4. How do major Global North and Global South media outlets link specific frames to particular solutions (e.g., international aid, local governance reforms, and climate change adaptation) in their coverage of the 2022 floods in Pakistan?

Newspapers	Solutions Frame
	International Aid	Local Governance	Community Adaptation	Climate Adaptation	Total
Dawn	813	171	147	822	1953
The Guardian	205	190	190	210	795
The New York Times	164	150	151	169	634
The Times of India	56	53	51	57	217
Total	1238	564	539	1258	3599

explicates the solution framing by media outlets. International aid and climate adaptation are the two domain frames used to present solutions to natural disasters in Pakistan. The international aid framework is not the permanent solution to the problem. This framing hinders the local communities and governments in the Global South from exploring alternative solutions to deal with their problem, especially disaster management in times of crisis, such as floods and earthquakes. The international aid and climate adaptation frames build narratives that influence the public’s understanding that reliance on international aid is the only way forward to handle natural disasters and crisis management. Global South media outlets provide prominent coverage frames compared to Global North media outlets.

4. Discussion

The analysis of media representations of floods in Pakistan provides valuable insights to identify the prevalence of the frames, the responsibility attribution function of frames, and the recognition of episodic and thematic frames in the published news articles in the national and international media outlets regarding natural disaster, i.e., floods in the Global South. Vulnerability and solutions frames are the two dominant frames used to frame floods in Pakistan. The resilience frame is the least covered. In the Global South, Dawn provided extensive coverage of floods in Pakistan.

Ours is an age of mediated realities wherein media shapes our understanding of the social world (Iftikhar et al., 2024; Ijaz & Yousaf, 2023; Okocha et al., 2023; Riaz et al., 2021; Yousaf, 2023; Yousaf et al., 2023). Therefore, in the current mediated age, media outlets blame human causes for floods in Pakistan rather than natural causes. Put differently, Global North and Global South media outlets suggest short-term solutions to the disasters rather than long-term proposed solutions. Likewise, the vulnerability frame dominates more than resilience frames. The prevalence of vulnerability framing demonstrates that people are defenseless, marginalized, and facing humanitarian crises due to structural inequalities and need interventions to be protected from disasters. This frame shows the suffering of the local communities, the powerless, and victims of poor governance and poverty. Similarly, our findings indicate that international aid and climate adaptation are the dominant frames used in national and international media outlets. The framing of the 2022 floods utilizing the international aid frame explicates emergency relief to the powerless and helpless victims of natural disasters, i.e., floods in Pakistan. The findings of this study align with the previous studies, wherein it has been found that the media frames disasters in the Global South as a victimization framing mechanism. This framing depicts local and suffering communities in the Global South as defenseless, helpless victims of natural disasters (Bennett & Daniel, 2002; Cottle, 2009; Das, 2019; Ejaz & Najam, 2023; Said, 1978). This type of framing disseminates “poverty porn” discourses, downplaying the resilience frames wherein the agency of the local communities to fight the natural disaster in the Global South countries, such as Pakistan, wherein communities are enabled to deal with the crisis (Thaker et al., 2020).

4.1. How Responsibility Is Framed for Floods

One of the primary aspects of framing involves the attribution of responsibility. This study explored the prevalence of responsibility frames in media outlets. The vulnerability frame is the most prevalent, followed by the solutions, responsibility, and resilience frames. Previous research has shown how responsibility is framed in the media, associated with individual or collective causes (Iyengar, 1994). The media outlets attribute responsibility to the larger societal force or individual actor. Framing floods as human factors, such as governance failures, highlights the framing of floods; the focus may shift toward accountability and demands for systemic change involving local governance and community (Boykoff, 2007). In what ways did media outlets establish this balance of responsibility, whether oriented more toward natural factors or governance failures? This may define the discourse of the public and further understand natural disasters influencing the international policy response regarding climate change and global warming (Obradovich & Guenther, 2016). Likewise, when the media outlets frame responsibility in the larger context, i.e., attributable to climate change, the global media influences international support for funding adaptation to climate change, but the responsibility is about the failure in governance; it can create awareness of the need for change within the Pakistani disaster management and response systems.

4.2. Framing Floods as Vulnerability and Resilience

Media outlets frame natural disasters through the lens of vulnerability and resilience. Vulnerability framing serves dominant narratives of disaster-affected communities as passive, helpless, and weak victims whose lives depend on external assistance. This helps maintain the idea or stereotype of the Global South’s countries’ perpetual reliance on foreign assistance (Pantti, 2021). Furthermore, vulnerability framing usually depicts affected populations as calamity survivors waiting for relief assistance. This reconstructs the stereotyped imagery of the Global South as a region of permanent emergency, thereby contributing to a sort of “disaster pornography”, an exposure of human suffering that does not communicate meaningful information about the actual causes of risks and vulnerability in the countries in the Global South. This supports the argument of Iyengar (1994), who noted that episodic framing draws attention away from the larger societal forces responsible for the issues. However, this may produce emotional identification with a distant audience and thus spur mobilization for humanitarianism. Correspondingly, it constructs imperialistic discourses in global media outlets, representing Global Southern countries such as Pakistan as symbols of crisis, poverty, and suffrage, wherein local communities need international aid to survive (Chouliaraki, 2006; Clissold, 2010).

In contrast, resilience framing concerns communities’ ability to bounce back, recover, and rebuild after disasters. Highlighting this aspect, Norris et al. (2008) maintained that resilience is an important determinant in the response to and aftermath of disasters. The media frames that refer to local recovery can help instill power and agency in the populations in the Global Southern countries. Nevertheless, resilience framing can also allow for the negative structural factors that make the population of a community vulnerable to disasters. In addition, the resilience framing may occasionally prevent an understanding of the conditions that made them so susceptible in the first place, such as poor housing or the lack of collective actions by governments in developing countries (Leitch & Bohensky, 2014).

In the given perspective of the floods of 2022 in Pakistan, it is essential to present the affected communities in Pakistan through the international media, framing responsibility, since it is the main factor in addressing the global communities regarding Pakistan’s ability to address the challenges. In this regard, it is suggested that the media outlets framing local communities’ social adaptability and capacity to cope with the disaster may be helpful. However, if the media primarily focuses on the vulnerability of suffering communities, it may reinforce the perception that Global Southern countries cannot manage such crises without external assistance (Akram et al., 2023; Bibi, 2024). Media outlets, both national and international, need to comprehend how media frames contribute to developing public perception regarding the construction of disaster discourses about the countries and communities.

4.3. Framing Possible Solutions

Solutions to the issues confronting communities are vital for the functioning of the democratic system. The media framing of possible solutions to the issues increases the likelihood that the public trusts the government’s ability to deal with the issues. In addition, it has been observed that media framing of solutions to natural disasters is highly influential regarding policy discourses on handling natural disasters. It has been established that when reporting focuses on the damage, severity, and short-term rehabilitation efforts, as is the case with emergency relief supplies, there is a tendency for substantive and sustainable structural reforms to help avoid future calamities to be overlooked. In contrast, when media frames emphasize long-term problem solutions regarding constitutional changes or climate change cures, media frames help advance other topics in sustainable development and disaster risk reduction (Boykoff, 2007; Carvalho, 2007). Underdeveloped countries such as Pakistan in the Global North have minimal carbon emissions. However, the span of destruction that emanates from climate change and global warming is much more extensive than in developed countries because of the weak infrastructure and unpreparedness of these countries against natural disasters (Pelling, 2001). There is a need for climate justice in countries such as Pakistan.

Dhakal (2018), in his study on media coverage of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, concluded that while there was concentrated coverage on the immediate disaster phase, later media coverage shifted towards the disaster and developmental phases of disaster response that require long-term reconstruction, rebuilding, and governance structures, among other attributes. Such changes in the media narrative ensured that international attention on the country’s reconstruction continued, even after the disaster’s first few months or years. Likewise, examining post-natural disasters media coverage of climate change, Boykoff and Boykoff (2007) found that most of the studies reported calamities in isolation rather than being part of a process of larger climate change. Similarly, Carvalho (2007) identified the ideological nature of media coverage of climate change and agreed that contemporary media frames tend to reflect political and economic interests, and, therefore, are selective when presenting ‘responsibility’ issues and ‘solutions’.

In sum, framing has become particularly relevant and important in the context of the 2022 floods in Pakistan. For instance, framing floods as a result of natural causes (e.g., monsoon rains exacerbated by climate change) or human causes (e.g., poor governance and infrastructure) shapes public empathy and international policy responses. Framing theory, thus, provides a foundation for understanding how the international media’s portrayal of floods influences both the perception of Pakistan’s vulnerability and the long-term solutions proposed for mitigating future disasters. Thus, this study conducted in the Global South supports framing theory and underscores that frames are vital for constructing natural disasters for the public.

4.4. Limitations

Besides its contribution, the study has some limitations. It uses a cross-sectional research design, which enables us to obtain a snapshot of a given phenomenon. Future studies could utilize a longitudinal research design to obtain a moving picture of the media coverage of disaster reporting. Moreover, experimental research design could investigate the effect of the frames used in reporting floods to gauge public opinion regarding handling disaster management efforts. In addition, future studies could integrate media content with the impact to capture the complete picture of the effects of media content on the public during disasters.

5. Conclusions

Media outlets in the Global North and Global South framed natural disasters in the Global South differently. They attribute responsibility to human causes rather than natural causes, i.e., larger societal forces. The victimization frame remains more dominant compared to community-led efforts. In conclusion, the solution frame highlighted international aid and climate adaptation as the answer to flood disasters in Pakistan instead of improving local governance and community adaptation efforts during disasters. These results emphasize the dual role of Global North and Global South media outlets as both advocates for global climate justice and justice framing of natural disasters in the Global South, while also highlighting the importance of resilience narratives and local agency. The media’s focus on the vulnerability frame in disaster reporting shows that media outlets represented the local community’s helplessness and defenselessness in the face of floods. This reporting and representation undermines the resilience of the local community in dealing with calamities. The media’s role in assigning disaster responsibility to individual actors rather than natural causes also shields larger forces from accountability. The findings support the framing theory of a Global Southern country with a different cultural and political background.