Resilience or Rhetoric? A Framing Analysis of Flood Disaster Reporting in Pakistan’s Media

Abstract

Floods are among Pakistan’s most common and devastating natural disasters, and they are becoming increasingly frequent and intense as a result of climate change, glacial melt, accelerated urbanisation, and weak governance. While coverage of climate change in 2025 has improved compared to 2010 and 2022 in terms of attention to climate change, it still silences local voices and long-term resilience narratives. However, much of the literature on disaster reporting in Pakistan has been descriptive, focusing on one-off events rather than situating them within wider framing theories, agenda-setting, and disaster journalism. This study employs qualitative document analysis (QDA) of a sample (n = 300) of media texts from five mainstream Pakistani media outlets (print and broadcast) published between June and August 2025. Drawing on framing theory and using a hybrid coding framework, this study examines causal attribution, impact reporting, actor representation, and narrative patterns. The results show ongoing sensationalism and political blame frames, low inclusion of community voices, and competing discourses of climate change versus nationalist explanations (especially cross-border water politics). This study contributes to global conversations about disaster communication by demonstrating the role of media in fragile governance settings to reveal and obscure the structural causes of vulnerability. Theoretically, it broadens framing and agenda-setting scholarship by showing the simultaneous functioning of dual causal narratives, scientific (climate-induced) and political (nationalistic). It also provides policy recommendations for more inclusive, accurate, and resilient disaster reporting.

1. Introduction

Flooding is a major 21st-century issue, especially in developing countries, which are among the most vulnerable to climate change. Flooding in Pakistan has persisted with devastating intensity, causing lasting socioeconomic damage, and exposing systemic vulnerabilities in governance, planning, and adaptation. Floods that displaced well over two million people and damaged crops and infrastructure in over 1400 villages in Punjab state are the most severe flooding events after 2022, and the harsh reality of the 2025 floods is yet to be realised (Aziz, 2025). These floods were induced by heavy monsoon rains from the mountains, rapid melting of glaciers in the Himalayas, and overflowing of the Sutlej, Ravi, and Chenab rivers, all of which further aggravated an already fragile humanitarian and economic situation in the country (M. Ali et al., 2025).

Floods are not a surprise or new phenomenon in Pakistan. The United Nations labelled the wave of floods that darkened the lights for almost twenty million people in 2010 as one of the largest humanitarian crises of the decade. Furthermore, the recent floods of 2022 impacted over thirty-three million people, and damages are estimated at approximately USD 30 billion, leading to conversations about climate reparations and loss and damage finance from country to country (Iqbal et al., 2022). However, the floods of 2025 are different in both temporal and contextual contexts: they are coming after a time of much international awareness of climate change, Pakistan’s fragile economic recovery, and rising anxieties about South Asian transboundary water governance. The simultaneous occurrence of both crises intensified the media’s representation, discourse, and framing of floods.

The media are at the centre of disaster communications. It plays a crucial role in the diffusion of early warnings, risk perception, mobilisation of relief, and holding authorities accountable (Houston et al., 2014). Theoretical frameworks of agenda-setting (McCombs & Shaw, 1972) and framing (Entman, 1993) argue that the media can determine what is essential for the public and policymakers and how events are interpreted. In the case of disasters, framing floods as natural events, failures of governance, climate crises, or acts of external aggression has significant implications for using resources, public trust, and strategies for resilience.

A study on Pakistani media and disasters shows their potential and limitations. While some studies have stressed the capacity of media coverage to mobilise relief and raise awareness (Javed, 2021; Rana et al., 2021), others have criticised its reliance on sensationalist representations, political bias, and neglect of structural causes (Riaz, 2020; Salahuddin, 2024). The focus of flood news coverage on the 2010 and 2022 floods has been on dramatic rescues and official responses in the absence of rural impacts, rehabilitation challenges, and climate-related vulnerabilities (Ashraf & Qureshi, 2021; Hussain & Yaqoob, 2019). While progress in the past decade has been towards greater integration of climate discourse in Pakistani media, the field is still limited by metropolitan bias, political sensitivities, and resource limitations (A. Ali & Manzoor, 2021).

As several scholars in the field of disaster communication around the world have already noted, the challenges are not dissimilar, ranging from the politicisation of Hurricane Katrina in the United States (Tierney et al., 2006) to the nationalising discourses of Cyclone Amphan in South Asia (Chatterjee & Chakraborty, 2020), media narratives tend to oscillate between urgency, blame, and spectacle. However, little comparative scholarship has positioned Pakistan’s flood coverage within the broader theoretical understanding of disaster communication in fragile contexts. Most studies are event-specific and descriptive and have not been integrated into global discourses on media, climate change, and governance.

This study fills this gap by systematically analysing Pakistani media coverage of the 2025 floods from the perspective of framing and agenda-setting theories. Specifically, it asks:

• How has the Pakistani media told the story about the causes, consequences, and responsibility for the 2025 flood?
• Who is given a voice in the coverage and who is not?
• What are the implications of these coverage patterns for climate adaptation, public resilience, and disaster governance?

By placing the 2025 Pakistan floods in the broader framework of disaster communication, this study makes both theoretical and practical contributions. It draws attention to the dual causal framings of scientific: climate-induced, and political: nationalist, and their roles in constructing narratives of vulnerability and how sensationalism risks destroying the long-term discourse of resilience. This study also emphasizes on the role of media organisations in shaping disaster narratives along with the importance of balanced, fact-based, and empathetic reporting during flood crises.

2. Literature Review

Floods are periodically recurring hazards and socially constructed events that become meaningful through narratives. There has been extensive debate in disaster communication on the role of the media in constructing these narratives. This review brings together literature in five thematic areas: (i) media performance in disaster communication, (ii) framing and agenda setting of disaster coverage, (iii) patterns and biases in Pakistani media, (iv) structural and institutional issues in disaster journalism, and (v) emerging climate and digital dimensions. The last subsection relates these insights to the 2025 floods.

2.1. Media in Disaster Communication

Media can play a multifunctional role in disasters by broadcasting early warnings, raising public awareness, mobilising relief efforts, and influencing accountability (Houston et al., 2014). There are two models in communication theory. First, agenda-setting theory highlights that the prominence of issues in the news media correlates with what voters regard as necessary (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). Second, framing theory highlights how problems are defined, causes are attributed, and solutions are prescribed (Entman, 1993). Some of these theories have been applied to disasters as diverse as earthquakes in Japan (Hishida & Shaw, 2014) and hurricanes in the United States (Tierney et al., 2006).

Media play a critical governance role in developing contexts, filling institutional gaps in disaster response. For example, following the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, media of all types mobilised and organised resources, but their reporting faced criticism for sensationalism and for reinforcing stereotypes of helplessness (Marcussen, 2023). Similarly, another study on Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines showed that international media news on the disaster resulted in the mobilisation of international aid, which diverted attention from the ground realities of the affected region (Su & Tanyag, 2020).

2.2. Framing and Agenda-Setting in Disaster Coverage

Scholars have examined how disasters are presented across contexts. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. press created a structural frame for the catastrophe in terms of government incompetence, racial inequality, and chaos, which served as the basis for political arguments for years to come (Tierney et al., 2006). The role of climate change and the adequacy of government responses became one of the largest international media stories of the floods in Germany in 2021 (Thieken et al., 2023). Within a South Asian context, Cyclone Amphan 2020 was framed by Indian and Bangladeshi media through the lens of nationalism and resilience, focusing on how bravely the nation and people are facing this disaster, keeping structural vulnerabilities such as poor infrastructure, inadequate disaster management in the shadows (Chatterjee & Chakraborty, 2020). These studies identify several standard frames: naturalising frames (disasters as acts of nature), blame frames (attribution to authorities or external actors), humanitarian frames (suffering and relief), and resilience frames (community coping and adaptation). The proportions of these frames determine a society’s attitude toward responsibility and preparation. For example, a naturalising frame decreases pressure for accountability, whereas a blame frame polarises political debate (Vasterman & Ruigrok, 2013). Over the past few years, the scholarly discussion on the topic of disaster communication has manifested a growing trend towards the importance of media framing and agenda-setting as the core of the interpretation, remembrance, and politics of crises within various socio-political regimes. Much of the literature of international research recognizes a sequence of repetitive frames of hazard or threat, response and competence, human-interest and suffering, responsibility and blame, and vulnerability and resilience, which prevail at different points in the timeline of disasters. The news presentation at the beginning is often concerned with immediacy and spectacle, which emphasize the dramatic images, the number of casualties, and the response to the emergency.

Over the course of the events, though, the focus of reporting typically shifts to issues of accountability, governance, and recovery (Pantti et al., 2012). Comparative analysis reveals that these frames are highly influenced by national media regimes and political cultures. The journalists in the liberal democracies focus on blame and policy-fail messages that challenge the aspects of crisis management and institutional vulnerability, while the state-oriented media focus on order, unity, and government competence to reinforce legitimacy and stability (Jin et al., 2025; Khawaja et al., 2025). Other studies on extreme-weather and pandemic reporting also indicate that visual and emotional storytelling appeals are more effective at capturing public attention, though often at the cost of deeper structural explanations of vulnerability and inequality (Günay et al., 2025). The persistence of an indexing effect in which journalists rely on governmental sources also promotes the state agendas and restricts the visibility of civic or non-governmental perspectives (Bennett, 1990; Ogie et al., 2022). In addition, cross-regional results reveal that climate-related frames are still underdeveloped, creating a gap between long-term environmental risk discourse and short-term humanitarian narrative (Ejaz et al., 2025; Andersen et al., 2025).

2.3. Media Coverage of Floods in Pakistan

Earlier years of media coverage of floods in Pakistan were not extensive and were confined to reporting shortly after the disaster (Mufti & Hashim, 2022). However, media coverage has improved recently and has become more focused on the causes and long-term consequences of flooding for communities and the environment. One of the interesting trends in media reporting on floods in Pakistan is the use of multimodal formats, such as videos and photographs, to help the reader/viewer visualise the extent (Hassan et al., 2022). This has allowed the media to provide the reality of the situation to a broader audience and raise awareness of the need for action to tackle the underlying causes of floods. Aside from human media reports on flooding events, the media have also reported the government’s response in providing various resources for relief and rehabilitation in flood-prone areas (Khan et al., 2022). This has made it possible to critically assess the effectiveness of the government’s response and identify areas for improvement. The media have also reported on the effects of floods on the livelihoods of affected communities, such as house and livelihood destruction and the long-term need for recovery and rebuilding. This has raised awareness of the human aspect of disasters and the need to support those affected.

2.4. Biases in Pakistani Media Flood Reporting

Disaster communication research is emerging but remains fragmented in Pakistan. Following the 2010 floods, which affected nearly 20 million people, the state-centric and spectatorial coverage of the disaster was widely criticised. Newspapers and television channels mainly covered the rescue operation and elite visits and underreported the structural reasons, such as poor planning and deforestation (Ashraf & Qureshi, 2021; Zaidi & Sajjad, 2015). Studies on the 2022 floods found continuity and change. On the one hand, the media framed the disaster as a “climate catastrophe” following Pakistan’s diplomatic pursuit of climate reparations at COP27 (Iqbal et al., 2022; Rana et al., 2021). In contrast, government sources dominated the coverage, and there was very little room for local voices or investigative reporting on land mismanagement (A. Ali & Manzoor, 2021). Content analyses substantiate long-standing biases (political bias: outlets tend to reflect the interests of their affiliated parties (Rasheed & Khan, 2024), nationalist bias (floods framed as consequences of dam releases by Indians, especially in Urdu media (Riaz, 2020), and commercial bias (devastation images are circulated for audiences) (Hassan et al., 2022). Such biases affect the governance of disasters. With an emphasis on elite narratives, the media risk reinforcing reactive policies (relief and rehabilitation) at the cost of proactive resilience policies (Rehman et al., 2019).

2.5. Emerging Climate and Digital Dimensions

Two new dynamics are emerging in the recent literature: the incorporation of climate discourse and the emergence of digital platforms. The floods of 2022 signalled a significant shift in this situation, with the media increasingly linking extreme events to climate change in their coverage. The coverage was commensurate with the small share of global emissions for which Pakistan is responsible and the disproportionate vulnerability that provides it with a case for international loss-and-damage financing (Ahmad & Ma, 2020). However, Naveed and Li (2019) warn that climate frameworks often coexist with nationalist narratives of blame, weakening their potential to mobilise systemic reform. With the introduction of platforms such as Twitter/X, Facebook, and TikTok, social media platforms now provide an additional channel to traditional outlets for disaster communication. During the floods in Pakistan in 2022, hashtags such as #PakistanFloods helped mobilise donations and support worldwide. However, disaster social media research has shown both the promise that social media holds for providing community-produced real-time alerts and narratives and the potential for misinformation (Bahad et al., 2019; Houston et al., 2014). Moreover, unequal access to disambiguous data during disasters, such as digital inequalities in rural Pakistan, highlights the urgent need for inclusive strategies and offers lessons for equitable disaster communication (Perveen et al., 2022).

2.6. Challenges of Disaster Journalism in Pakistan

Structural barriers limit Pakistani disaster reporting beyond framing choices: One is that resources are limited, which constrains coverage (A. Ali & Manzoor, 2021). Journalists usually do not have the training, equipment, and funding needed to reach remote disaster areas. Second, disaster-related logistics, such as the physical constraints imposed by damaged infrastructure, flooded roads, and a lack of electricity, impact reporting capacity on the ground (Sarkar, 2022). Third, there is an urban bias, as most of the media houses are based in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad; thus, urban consequences are prioritised over rural destruction (Atta-Ur-Rahman & Shaw, 2015; Shah et al., 2020). Institutional mechanisms for disaster reporting are not established in Pakistan. For instance, newsrooms lack the necessary preparation for risk-informed journalism, and editorial priorities favour political reporting over environmental reporting (Shabbir, 2022). Media coverage of floods in Pakistan has improved, but journalists still cannot report effectively or accurately on the ground. The major problem is reaching such affected places (Sarkar, 2022), and sometimes this is challenging because of the destruction of structures by floods and the lack of infrastructure. This can narrow the depth and breadth of media coverage and limit journalists’ access to painting a complete picture of the situation (A. Ali & Manzoor, 2021). These problems are similar to those in other developing countries. For instance, Prasetya et al. (2021) affirms that the decline in disaster journalism in Indonesia is due to political pressures and inadequate training. The results demonstrate that Pakistani journalism mirrors the wider limitations of disaster reporting in the Global South (Ashraf, 2024).

2.7. Patterns of Pakistani Media in Covering Floods

According to Shabbir (2022), the interpretation of the media and flood coverage pattern in Pakistan indirectly reflects the media’s role in public education by imposing pressure on the government’s response to the disaster. The media has the power to raise awareness about disasters and their impacts, help mobilise resources for relief and recovery efforts, and bring attention to the needs of affected communities. However, media coverage of floods in Pakistan has been a topic of much discussion. For example, some research has suggested that flood media reporting in Pakistan is dominated by sensational and dramatic stories (Riaz, 2020), such as rescue operations and dramatic rescues, rather than reliable information on the impact of the disaster and the needs of those affected. However, some studies (Naveed & Li, 2019) highlight that media reports on floods can help build a sense of urgency and mobilise resources to provide relief and recovery to the affected population. In the acute phase of an emergency, swift action is required to save lives and reduce the damage.

The concept of resilience narratives has been developed within media and disaster studies to explain how the press and institutions frame recovery after a disaster as a narrative of survival, solidarity, and adaptation (Pantti et al., 2012; Choudhury & Emdad Haque, 2018). These stories are not only a communicative resource to collective coping, but also an ideological tool which can depoliticize structural factors of vulnerability (Cottle, 2014; Chouliaraki, 2006). Guided by humanitarian logic, particularly in the context of flood reporting, the media tend to portray disasters and catastrophes primarily as human tragedies that demand compassion, help, and moral reaction, rather than as failures of governance or structural systems. Such coverage revolves around misery, compassion, and salvation, with the victims being portrayed as helpless dependents, and relief providers, usually government, armed forces, or NGOs, are portrayed as the saviours (Chouliaraki, 2006; Pantti et al., 2012). This rationale fosters civic empathy and humanitarian response while depoliticizing the disaster discourses by changing focus from accountability, policy oversights, and sustainability (Khawaja et al., 2025).

Humanitarian logic, therefore, can be seen in the Pakistani flood reporting, which tends to use more sensitive pictures and news information on the rescue operation, charitable acts, and celebrity relief actions that idealize national solidarity rather than talking about the structural government failure, such as deforestation, inefficient drainage systems, and poor urban development. To this effect, this framing enhances the short-term morality and not the long-term structural perception of vulnerability. The socio-ecological perspective, however, also considers floods as a result of the interaction of the social, political, and environmental systems and not as mere natural disasters. It relies on the theory of socio-ecological resilience (Adger, 2006; Tierney, 2025) and focuses on the system factors and reactions that should be made, such as land use activities, policy formulation, and community readiness. This framing is increasingly visible in climate-sensitive journalism (Behnassi et al., 2022), and it is associated with the necessity to shift to accountability and away from compassion (Asibey et al., 2025). The integration of these perceptions contributes to resilience discourses wherein empathy is coupled with an awareness of structural factors, reflecting the evolving situation of disaster communication in Pakistan.

Therefore, examining the media coverage of floods is particularly important for policymakers, media personnel, and practitioners working in the disaster management sector in Pakistan. It can also help identify opportunities to improve media coverage by providing accurate and timely information about the disaster, including stories from affected communities about the challenges they face, and supporting disaster preparedness and resilience. Furthermore, improved knowledge of the role of the media during floods in Pakistan will inform disaster management and risk reduction policies and practical applications, leading to better and more efficient disaster response and recovery activities.

3. Methodology

3.1. Research Design

This study follows a qualitative document analysis (QDA) methodological approach to explore how Pakistani media framed the 2025 floods. Based on textual and visual data, QDA is defined as a method that seeks to analyse the research material in the form of meanings, themes, and patterns enclosed in the discourse (Bowen, 2009; O’Connor & Joffe, 2020). Unlike quantitative content analysis, which emphasises the frequency of words, QDA allows for an interpretive study of how disasters are socially constructed through words, images, and accounts. Given that this study deals with framing and agenda-setting, QDA offers a method that is systematic yet flexible enough to probe not only the manifest (explicit content) aspects but also the latent (underlying meanings, silences, and biases) of media texts. The study presented its conclusions by drawing on the merits of framing theory (Entman, 1993) and agenda-setting theory (McCombs & Shaw, 1972), which guided the coding framework and interpretation.

3.2. Data Sources and Sampling

The study analysed coverage from five leading Pakistani media outlets purposively selected to capture diversity in language, ownership, and audience reach:

• Dawn (English-language daily, privately owned, liberal orientation).
• Jang (Urdu-language daily, mass circulation, populist orientation).
• Geo News (leading private television channel, Urdu).
• ARY News (private television channel, conservative orientation).
• PTV News (state-owned television channel).

However, it ensured that English and Urdu media, private and public media, print and electronic media, etc., were represented. Therefore, whereas English media such as Dawn appeal to elites and foreign audiences, Urdu media such as Jang and ARY broadcast materials that appeal to the masses on rural and urban circuits. Together, these sources offer a more comprehensive understanding of Pakistani media discourse. The sample was collected from 1 June to 31 August 2025 during monsoon rainfall, during the flooding peak in Punjab and Sindh, and at the beginning of rehabilitation works. These three months were chosen because they covered the whole crisis cycle from crisis declaration to crisis escalation and immediate crisis management, that is, at a time when media are likely to be at their highest (Vasterman & Ruigrok, 2013).

3.3. Sampling Strategy

Media texts were retrieved from online archives, official websites, and broadcast transcripts. Search terms included:

• “Floods 2025”;
• “Punjab floods”;
• “Monsoon disaster”;
• “Glacial melt”;
• “Relief camps”;
• “Climate change Pakistan”;
• “Indian dams water release”.

The final dataset comprised 300 items.

• 200 news stories/reporting/news articles and editorials (120 Dawn Newspaper, 80 Jang Newspaper);
• 100 online broadcast transcripts available on YouTube (35 Geo News Channel, 35 ARY News Channel, 30 PTV News Channel).

This purposive sampling balanced breadth and depth, enabling a comparative analysis across outlets.

4. Coding Framework

4.1. Theoretical Dimensions

The coding scheme was derived deductively from the theoretical tradition of framing and inductively from emergent patterns in the data. Based on Entman’s (1993) typology, four central discursive dimensions were coded:

• Problem definition: Does the flood exist as something else? A natural disaster? A climate crisis? A governance failure?
• Causal attribution: What, or who, caused the floods? Asia Minor: natural disasters, climate change, the Indian government?
• Moral evaluation: Who is held accountable here? Governments, NGOs, international actors, and communities.
• Conclusions: What is said about therapy? Rebuilding, government reform, and climate justice from abroad.

4.2. Inductive Categories

Additional inductive categories emerged during open coding.

• Impacts: economic loss, displacement, health, agriculture, and cultural heritage.
• Actors: federal government, provincial government, NGOs, INGOs, scientists, and community members.
• Frames: humanitarian urgency, sensationalism, blame, resilience, and transboundary conflicts.
• Voices: whose perspectives are quoted or marginalised.

4.3. Coding Process

The coding proceeded in three stages (Glaser & Strauss, 1999).

• Open coding of 30 sample articles to identify preliminary themes.
• Axial coding was used to refine the categories into a structured codebook.
• Selective coding was applied using the final codebook across all 300 texts.

NVivo 14 software was used to manage the data and codes.

4.4. Reliability and Validity

Reliability and validity are essential aspects of qualitative research design. Explicitly focusing on inter-coder reliability (a second coder independently analyzed 20% of cases) ensures greater credibility. Cohen’s Kappa (k = 0.84) suggested favourable agreement. In addition, triangulation was attempted with multiple sources (print vs. broadcast, English vs. Urdu, state vs. private), which were compared to determine convergences and divergences. Furthermore, to allow transparency and foster reflexivity, a memo log documenting decisions and possible bias throughout the analysis was maintained. This is why selected media text excerpts were retained and used to explain the analysis. To guarantee the trustworthiness of the document analysis (QDA) using a qualitative approach, a combination of methodological precautions suggested by Schreier (2012) and Elo et al. (2014) was used. The sample analysis has been modelled on a purposive sample of 300 media texts drawn from five mainstream Pakistani print and broadcast media houses between June and August 2025. The validity was improved with the creation of a detailed coding system in accordance with the theoretical findings of framing and agenda-setting. A pilot study on 10% of the dataset (n = 30) was performed by the two trained coders to finalize the codebook, define the meaning of the categories, and enhance consistency in the interpretation. The discrepancies were reported and addressed through consensus, and a coding log was maintained to have an audit trail of decisions taken during the analysis process, which made it credible (Nowell et al., 2017). The triangulation across the media type and media sources was successfully used to identify the regular trends of framing and lessen the outlet-specific bias (Flick, 2018). Memo writing and peer debriefing were undertaken to promote reflexivity, enabling the researchers to minimize potential interpretative biases. There were no new frames or meanings created in the late stage, showing thematic saturation and analytical fullness (Guest et al., 2020). Finally, the documentation of the analytical process was also evident to increase both the confirmability and transferability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). A combination of these measures guaranteed that the meaning of media texts was sound and methodologically solid.

4.5. Ethical Considerations

This study did not require human subject approval because it used public media texts. However, ethical sensitivity levels were perceived to be higher in treating human-interest issues: when quoting personal stories of those affected by matters preoccupying the press, identifying factors were censored to preserve privacy and dignity. Written with a greater mind to understand how such visuals ended up being constructed in coverage, this study also did not recreate the visual image of the victims, unlike many other studies that sought to derive meaning from such images. Some methodological limitations are worth noting. Local and community media were not included in the study; as such, local perspectives may be underrepresented in such research. As this was done within 3 months of time coverage for longer-term recovery was limited. While of growing importance, social media monitored content was systematically excluded from the results because of scope limitations. In sum, this study conducted a qualitative media text analysis of 300 media texts from five key media houses on the 2025 floods. Using framing and agenda-setting concepts, the coding framework included problem descriptions, attribution of causation, moral judgements, treatment suggestions, and emergent themes. Triangulation and tests between the coders ensured coherence. This analytical approach offers a strong backbone from which we examine the advent of the Pakistan media’s tourism narratives around the deluge of 2025.

5. Findings

In the analysis of 300 media texts, consistent yet nuanced patterns were observed in how the Pakistani media framed the floods that hit Pakistan in 2025. The findings are presented in four broad themes: (1) the framing of cause, (2) the framing of humanitarian and economic effects, (3) the framing of actors and voices, and (4) the framing of narrative patterns and devices. Each subsection shows how each outlet, language, and platform is the same and different.

5.1. Causal Framing

5.1.1. Coverage of Climate Change and Natural Disasters: How Both Sides Talk About It

The cross-cutting finding was the dual proposition of causality: Dawn, a leading English-language media outlet, increasingly blamed climate change, glacial melting, and erratic monsoon patterns for the 2025 floods. The editorial “Pakistan’s changing climate” frames the 2025 floods in the language of international climate politics, portraying Pakistan as a country suffering the consequences of global warming. Often, sources used for those outlets were scientific experts, NGOs, and global organisations like the United Nations and the World Bank. In contrast, Urdu media, such as Jang and ARY News, seemed to prefer depicting the floods as natural, unavoidable occurrences. They frequently used phrases such as ‘qahar-e-khudai’ (divine wrath). While there was some mention of climate change, it was typically found in sub-paragraphs or passed off as referring to statements made by international actors.

5.1.2. Transboundary Water Politics

Another strong causational frame was found in the Urdu media: blame on India, particularly in ARY News and Jang. The emergency release of water from Indian dams has been reported to cause flooding in Punjab and Sindh. A headline in Jang read: ‘Bharat ki pani chhorne ki sazish se Punjab doob gaya’ (‘Punjab drowned because of India’s water-release conspiracy’). Such stories received scant attention from the English media, which either under-reported them or put them in context. UV explored this shift as a divide based on language and ideology: English periodicals were perhaps closer to international interpretations of climate change, while Urdu periodicals focused on nationalist interpretations.

5.2. Humanitarian and Economic Impacts

5.2.1. Displacement and Livelihoods

Almost all the outlets covered the magnitude of displacement. Estimates of two million affected people have been repeatedly reported in Punjab alone (Arshad et al., 2025). Villages, standing camps, and large higher-ground displacements were covered—television images of crowded refugee camps, weeping children, and dead livestock. However, the coverage of the long-term livelihood impacts was inconsistent. Arshad et al. (2025) noted that the floods in Pakistan damaged agricultural fields (cotton, rice, sugarcane, etc.), which affected export revenue and inflation. In contrast, PTV News coverage focused much more on the government’s commitment to compensation without providing much in-depth reporting on whether aid was sufficient or paid out.

5.2.2. Health Crises

For example, outbreaks of cholera, diarrhoea, and dengue fever were under-reported. Most coverage was based on the official numbers of deaths published by provincial governments. Only Dawn published investigative material concerning overcrowded hospitals and a shortage of clean water in the camps. Broadcast media were geared towards rescues’ dramatic nature, not public health emergencies.

5.3. Actors and Voices

Government officials heavily dominated the coverage in all media. In their numerous statements and press releases, ministers, provincial authorities, and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) provided ever-present assurances of relief and reconstruction. For instance, during daily live press conferences, PTV News portrayed state action as efficacious and responsive. NGOs and INGOs such as Red Crescent, UNHRC, and Médecins Sans Frontières were present, but mainly on the margins. Retail media coverage spoke to them but rarely gave them a direct voice. This underestimates their importance in relief operations. One particularly stark finding was the low visibility from the local community perspective. Of the 300 texts, fewer than 10% directly contained quotes from flood-affected people. When they were included, these voices tended to be presented in human-interest vignettes (for example, “I lost my home and cattle”) rather than as opinion holders with anything to say about governance or resilience. This omission reveals a top-down reportage pattern in which elites are the most discursive.

5.4. Narrative Patterns and Framing Devices

Sensationalism remains popular. Constant use of dramatic language by broadcast outlets (ARY, Geo, etc.), like “Punjab under siege” or “Apocalypse of the rivers”. Television was based on sympathetic images—children treading water alone to their necks, roofs overhead flooded underwater, boats carrying people to safety. These images were shot with immediacy, but for the most part, replaced depth with spectacle. Most flood-affected people are helpless victims. Narratives portray Indigenous communities as passive recipients of aid and not as active actors in building resilience. Such representations perpetuate dependency and hinder the visibility of local coping mechanisms. Coverage more often attributed blame to multiple sources, although attribution patterns differed. The English media (Dawn) stressed the incompetence of local governments, poor infrastructure, and improper planning, while the Urdu media (ARY, Jang) stressed external factors (India, general international neglect). These competing fault narratives reflect how media ecologies fit their conceptions of audience members’ expectations and politicians’ ideological commitments.

5.5. Resilience Narratives: Limited but Emerging

There was some effort by the English media to publicise citizen-led resilience practices, whether by villagers constructing low walls or local NGOs organising volunteer search and rescue squads. However, such stories were the exception. The majority of media reinforced humanitarian logic while lessening the strength of resilience discourse. Print media, particularly Dawn, offered more analysis with references and facts than news broadcasters’ emphasis on immediacy and visuals, and their relative lack of contextualisation. From a socio-ecological perspective, the English media framed floods within the context of global climate discourses, whereas the Urdu media focused more on nationalist and religious narratives. Private channels (Dawn, Jang, Geo, and ARY) were critical of the government’s failure in different ways depending on their respective approaches. However, they were usually more open about their criticism than PTV News, which continuously portrayed the state’s response as effective.

Overall, the results show a paradox. While Pakistani media increasingly recognises the vulnerabilities caused by climate change, it remains constrained by political, commercial, and linguistic biases to report inclusively and with a focus on resilience. The study identified several essential patterns in the coverage patterns of Pakistani media: The most dominant theme was politics, with a significant amount of news coverage revolving around political themes. This meant coverage of elections, political parties, and the activities of elected representatives. Another prominent theme in the news was social and cultural issues, including gender, education, and health. In these cases, the news sources tended to be government officials, NGOs, and community leaders. The most significant constraint in preparing is access to affected areas because of the destruction of physical infrastructure by floods and inadequate infrastructure.

5.6. Discussion

This research examines important facts about the sense-making of the 2025 floods by the Pakistani media, demonstrating some similarities with the discourse of previous disasters and some changes in the discourse. This section interprets the results by referencing the theoretical frameworks, international comparative studies, and implications of disaster governance. The most vivid trend is the loudness of government voices across channels. NGOs, INGOs, and communities were sidelined, as most of the narrative was shaped under the influence of ministers, NDMA officials, and provincial authorities. This conforms to the agenda-setting theory (McCombs & Shaw, 1972), which underlines that the people who set the agenda in the media also determine what the other population considers essential. The same trend continues in other cases: U.S. coverage during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath first reflected government frames but then shifted to debunking them (Tierney et al., 2006). In Pakistan, state texts were more complex to deconstruct, particularly in state-run PTV News. Studies indicate that the erosion of trust between the media and the government occurs whenever the citizens of a nation see coverage of disasters through one-sided reporting (Miles & Morse, 2007). This would deter adherence to disaster orders and diminish everyday resilience in volatile governance situations, such as Pakistan.

A revealing aspect of this study was that a dual causal frame existed, in which sources that wrote in English were also most likely to report on climate-based drivers (melting glaciers, unusual monsoons). Nationalist blame frames based on the release of the national dams, centred on Utti, were prominent. Such an excursion exemplifies the malleability of framing theory (Entman, 1993). Frames not only suggest issues but also imply causes, moral judgements, and solutions. In English outlets, the definition of the problems was global (climate change), and they held causal attributions in science (emissions, deforestation), treatment advocacy (highlighting the need to work at the international level), international cooperation, and climate finance topics. In contrast, in the Urdu media, problems were defined as local (Indian aggression, divine wrath). In contrast, the causal attribution was political or religious, and the resolution was nationalistic (self-reliance and strong leadership).

A broad discursive struggle is embedded in the bifurcation of fragile statehood. On the one hand, the discourse of global climate compels Pakistan to align itself with the aesthetics of climate victimisation in accordance with the interests of the world (Ahmad & Ma, 2020). Alternatively, nationalist accounts speak to home markets through externalising blame. We also found that during Cyclone Amphan in Bangladesh, nationalist frames were alongside global climate discourses (Chatterjee & Chakraborty, 2020).

The continuity of nationalist blame frames may constrain adaptation. When flooding is considered an externality, flawed domestic politics (planning failure, inadequate infrastructure) will be spared much examination and thus impede structural change. The climate-based approach has advantages in invoking international assistance but subjects itself to the imputation of covering local culpability. Consequently, the simultaneous presence of different frames creates ambiguity regarding the sharing of responsibility, complicating governance. Newscast media extensively used sensational images and language, especially Geo and ARY. This kind of coverage increased the emphasis on emergencies in humanitarian issues, but often replaced spectacle with depth. This highly visualised coverage in Pakistan perpetuates a relief-centred disaster paradigm with acute attention to such events when they are extraordinary, but diminishes during recovery. Studies on the 2010 and 2022 floods revealed the same cycles (Zaidi & Sajjad, 2015; Rana et al., 2021). In comparison, the Pakistani media still indulges in the circadian cycles of spectacle and neglect.

One significant discovery is that the local community’s views were almost entirely represented. Flood victims were shown as mostly being dumped from above rather than taking charge of their lives. This marginalisation reflects a structural skew in Pakistani journalism. The organisational capacity of grassroots reflection includes rural access, urban bias, and lack of resources (A. Ali & Manzoor, 2021). Community marginalisation weakens participatory disaster governance. Exclusion inevitably results in a recovery policy that fails to address local needs. To promote it, the need to fail to hear local voices (to generate culturally unsuitable responses) became one of the factors explaining why international aid had to be condemned immediately after the 2015 Nepal earthquake (Marcussen, 2023).

In Pakistan, top-down disaster governance is being supported, where state actors define narratives and remedies while silencing the voices of urban and rural areas. This approach risks increasing vulnerability rather than addressing it directly. Community views would complement the social opinions of indigenous coping tools, such as community-constructed embankments or unofficial relief networks, and help place the discourse’s focus on resilience rather than victimhood.

There is continuity, and 2025 is changing the flooding and Pakistani media discourse. The focus on sensationalism, elite control, nationalist blame frames, and neglect of rural voices has persisted from 2010 to 2022. Climate change has taken centre stage as a causal frame, especially in English-speaking outlets, demonstrating Pakistan’s contribution to climate change among other countries. This duality reflects the general tendencies in disaster reporting in the Global South, where global climate discourses overlay local-national discourses. Similarly to Indonesia, as time went by, the concern regarding tsunamis transitioned to a climate frame of reference instead of serving as a religious one (Prasetya et al., 2021). In Pakistan, the interplay between nationalist and climate frames reflects the media’s ambivalence in weak democracies between domestic affairs and foreign forces.

5.7. Policy and Governance Implications

These results have various implications for disaster governance and media practices. Preach the Gospel of Resilience Narratives: Media are also urged to talk about how it might stop its humanitarian forms of urgency and how it might instead welcome resilience and adaptation on a larger scale. This means that journalists must be trained in thematic reporting and disaster literacy. Verification of the Sources: Local/community voices should replace the dominance of elites in the newsroom. Cross-sectoral liaisons with NGOs and the domestic press would help to obtain insights into the grassroots. War on Nationalist Distortions: But with as many problems in cross-boundary waters as there are, demanding that the floods are an Indian conspiracy augurs ill in the realm of responsibility. Effective governance depends on balanced reporting. Integration of responsible climate discourse: Climate frames have the potential to generate global solidarity, but must exist alongside enquiries about domestic malpractice. In any other case, global discourse runs the risk of localising escapism. Media Policy and Guidelines: Institutionalised disaster reporting guidelines (as the WHO uses in a health emergency) would be beneficial to Pakistan (Vasterman & Ruigrok, 2013). These standards may promote accuracy, openness, and transparency.

5.8. Theoretical Contributions

This research is relevant to disaster communication research in three ways. This shows how two causal frames (scientific vs. nationalist) may coexist, representing hybrid governance situations. This study extends the work of framing theory by showing that frames of victimhood and sensationalism support a relief-based paradigm that stifles current discourse on resilience. This is in harmony with the agenda-forming theory in that it relates to an area of elite dominant forces, but has additionally emphasised a memory of audience establishment, especially in underdeveloped democracies. The proposed study connects the local case study of the 2025 floods in Pakistan with global theory by advancing knowledge of how the media functions in climate-sensitive situations and placing it within the context of global discussions. As highlighted in the discussion, Pakistani news reporting on the 2025 floods both blinds and reveals structural cracks. Although climate change is receiving the necessary attention, media coverage tends to focus on sensationalism, elite perspectives, and nationalistic narratives. These trends mirror those of the Global South, as well as local Pakistani trends. The future lies in creating more welcoming, thematic, and resilience-focused disaster communication to achieve effective governance in the age of growing climate risks.

6. Conclusions

The floods experienced in Pakistan in 2025 highlighted once again that the country is exceptionally vulnerable to such catastrophes caused by climate factors, but also that the media plays a vital role in determining how people respond to these disasters and how the government reacts to them. By analysing 300 media messages in Urdu and English publications, this study shows that the coverage shifted to favour global climate discourses, nationalist blame frames, and humanitarian spectacles. The English media started identifying flooding as a climate crisis, using quotes from scientific authorities and international organisations. In contrast, Urdu-based interpretations were based on religious allusions and political accusations against India. The government’s voice dominated all platforms, whereas the community’s voice faced suppression. The humanitarian emergencies created by sensational images served to override thematic and long-term resilience accounts. These results show continuity and transformation in the scope of past flooding events (2010 and 2022). Although ordinary people are starting to take climate change more seriously, patterns of elite control, nationalism, and sensationalism persist. The outcome is a fractured narrative in which responsibility is diffused, resilience-making is marginalised, and crisis communication continues to respond to disasters rather than seeking to prevent them. In theory, this study contributes to the disaster communication higher education field by demonstrating how scientific and nationalistic dual causal frames coexist in precarious governing scenarios. It builds on framing theory to show how humanitarian spectacles can establish a paradigm of relief and agenda-setting theory to show the dominance of elites in telling stories of disasters.

6.1. Policy Implications

These findings have various practical implications for disaster governance, journalism, and international climate policy. Build Crisis Journalism Pakistan needs to formalise disaster reporting parameters, similar to the WHO paradigm for health disasters, focusing on character, inclusivity, and morality. These guidelines would reduce sensationalism, encourage thematic reporting, and protect the dignity of affected people. Training Journalists in Climate and Disaster Literacy. Professional training is necessary to develop journalists’ ability to discuss how to cover other disasters beyond what is immediately spectacular. These include the ability to interpret and contextualise extreme events regarding climate trends and report on structural fragilities, that is, land-use planning and governance gaps. To mitigate the effects of elite size manipulation, newsrooms must include the ideas of locals, particularly those residing in rural areas that suffer the most from floods. Narratives can be democratised with local journalists, NGOs, and citizen reporters: latitude, climate, and governance accountability issues. Climate change framing is crucial in supporting global solidarity, but should not be used to seek solace at the local level. The media should balance the global causality of climate change with the challenges of local management failures, such as infrastructure, corruption, and planning. Counter-nationalist distortion narratives requesting India to reduce water releases are locally appealing but tend to mislead and minimise pressure on home country adaptation needs. Cross-border media relationships, group-based fact-checking, and regional water management coverage could block distortion. Act responsibly when leveraging digital media to promote products. Social media platforms can empower community narratives, mobilise donations, and strengthen early warning systems. However, the risks of misinformation can be addressed by fact-checking cooperation and even by sensitisation to seek credibility with the people.

6.2. Limitations

This study, irrespective of its contributions, has a few limitations. The sample in this study was narrow because the dataset was limited to five national outlets; local and regional newspapers, community radio, and alternative digital media were not included in the analysis. These sources can be more grassroots-oriented. Second, the study was conducted over a short period. This three-month window (June–August 2025) was the time frame that contained the best coverage of the crisis, but not the long-term recovery stories. Third, social media (Twitter/X, Facebook, and TikTok) was not systematically analysed, even though it has played an important role in disaster communication. Finally, a significant weakness of the current research is the language barrier, as the analysis focused solely on English and Urdu outlets while excluding Sindhi, Punjabi, and Pashto media, which may have different perspectives on floods. These limitations are both indicators of resource and scope constraints and pointers to productive research directions in the future.

6.3. Future Research

This work can be developed in many directions by future scholarship, one of which is longitudinal analysis. A review of media reports at various stages of the process would show how the story changes over time, including at the point of initial crisis, critical points, recovery, and during long-term adjustment. A comparison of Pakistani flood coverage to media coverage in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal may help identify similarities and differences in disaster communication in the region, particularly related to transboundary water politics. Future research must systematically study digital platforms to understand how grassroots voices are disseminated beyond mainstream sources. Hashtags such as #PakistanFloods provide valuable information on participatory disaster communication. “Audience Reception Studies Examining” how citizens interpret media coverage may provide insights into whether sensationalism is detrimental to trust, whether nationalist frames affect perceptions of accountability, and whether climate frames impact support for adaptation policies among the public.

Lastly, scholars need to follow how media coverage affects policymaking, for example, whether climate framing makes Pakistan’s bargaining power more effective in the international system or whether nationalist discourse impacts bilateral water negotiations. The 2025 Pakistan floods are a humanitarian crisis and a test of governance, adaptation, and communication in a volatile climate. Media discourse does not reflect but constructively influences popular knowledge, generates action, and allocates responsibility. This study demonstrates that while the Pakistani media are embracing more climate discourse, they are still limited by sensationalism, elite control, and nationalist discourses. To ensure that disaster communication can significantly contribute to resilience, the media must go beyond episodic spectacles to adopt inclusive, thematic, and accountability-oriented reporting. By doing this, journalism can realise its democratic potential: to educate citizens, make power accountable, prioritise marginalised voices, and create resilience to the increasing risks of climate change.