Transforming Climate Change Reporting: Unveiling the Impact of Cross-Platform Integration in the Digital Era – A Comparative Analysis of Dawn and The News

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS19220252682

Abstract

This research explores how platformization has transformed the presentation of climate change news by two leading English-language Pakistani newspapers—’Dawn’ and ’The News’. With digitalization, news organizations adapt to the growing need for online presence in the competitive digital environment. Platformization here refers to the rise of social media companies and their integration into news organizations to disseminate news and enhance readership. This research is not about any discourse analysis of climate change news content. Rather, the main purpose is to understand how climate change news is being transformed on various platforms of ’Dawn’ and ’The News’. A detailed content analysis was done for 707 climate change-related news stories collected over four months from digital platforms including websites, E-papers, and official Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts. The study looks into how content transforms in terms of length, font, and visuals when shifting from websites and E-papers to social media platforms. Both organizations exhibit distinct patterns in digital adaptation. Findings show ’Dawn’ is more aware of platform affordances, while ’The News’ lags behind. Using the theory of affordances, this research explains how platforms influence news presentation. Social media platforms are not substitutes for websites and E-papers; they act more as attention-catchers. Climate change news on social media is shorter and often compromised. While platformization is useful for audience gain and retention, it is not helpful for informing audiences deeply about climate change. News on social media provides bits and pieces, and readers relying only on apps are receiving partial information. The real challenge lies in the fact that newspapers are business entities, and profit often comes before public interest. Future studies should explore journalists’ and organizations’ stances on this digital shift and how platformization affects genres like climate change journalism in the long run.

Author Biographies

Saadia Ishtiaq Nauman, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Dr. Saadia Ishtiaq Nauman completed her MS in Public Policy in Science and Technology Innovation (PPSTI) from the University of Sussex, UK in 2012. Later, she received her PhD in ‘News in the Networked Ecosystem’ from the University of Stirling, UK in 2017. She is an alumni of the ‘Oxford Media Policy Institute’ University of Oxford, UK (2019). Her area of interest includes Social Media Policy, Digital Journalism, Youth and News Consumption, Science Journalism, Fake News and Media Theory. She has worked on a Grant by Higher Education Commission in Pakistan for the project titled ‘Challenges of Media and Communication Theoretical Developments in Pakistan’. She has recently completed her internationalization of the Communication and Media Studies Department project in collaboration with University of Malmo, Sweden. She is currently serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fatima Jinnah Women University,Pakistan.

 

Currently she is in the University of Augsburg completing her Professor in Exchange Program at the Department of Media, Knowledge and Communication. She is collaborating with the division media reality for two projects, first one is about Media Repertoires and second is about Digital Stress. During her stay she will teach a BA-students class on Media repertoire. She also will give one workshop on the topic of ‘Prospects and Challenges of Media and Communication Research in Pakistan’ and a talk during Brown Bag Lunch on the topic of ‘Health Communication Practices of Pakistani Medical Practitioners in the Digital Age’.

Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldtb , Malmö University, Sweden

Dr. Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt is a Professor of Media and Communication at Malmö University, Sweden. Her research focuses on cultural citizenship, audience engagement, and the social applications of new technologies, particularly within museums, libraries, and public broadcasting. She has published over a hundred articles and contributed to more than ten books. Dr. Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt is the international director of the European Media and Communication Doctoral Summer School and a member of Academia Europaea.

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Published

2025-06-30

How to Cite

Nawaz, H., Nauman, S. I., & Pruulmann-Vengerfeldtb, P. (2025). Transforming Climate Change Reporting: Unveiling the Impact of Cross-Platform Integration in the Digital Era – A Comparative Analysis of Dawn and The News. Observatorio (OBS*), 19(2). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS19220252682

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 2 (2025)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Hiba Nawaz, Saadia Ishtiaq Nauman, Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldtb

This is an Open Acess article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing and adaptation, provided appropriate credit is given to the original author and the journal.