Shaping Climate Narratives: A Comparative Analysis of COP 29 Coverage in Nepali Media

Abstract

This study seeks to examines at how Nepali media outlets covered COP 29(Nov 2024). Paying particular attention to the amount, scope, and focus of coverage prior to, during, and following the conference. The Agenda Setting Theory, which says that the media has the ability to affect public opinion. The weight given by the media to particular subjects serves as the theoretical preamble for the study. Based on findings, there was little, irregular, and fragmented coverage of climate change in Nepali media. The prominent publications like Kantipur Daily, Gorkhapatra, Nagarik Dainik, Onlinekhabar, Himalkhabar, and Setopati provide little interaction with the summit's activities. The reporting was periodic during and after the meeting. The reporting was mainly concentrating on Nepali issues with no global outlook. As well as, there was very little pre-conference scope and the findings show how the media organizations may give short-term, politically assigned subjects like politics and the economy-related news more weight than prolonged environmental crises. When the agenda-setting framework is used to analyze, it becomes apparent that Nepali media's biased coverage of climate change signifies a loss to give climate issues the attention they need to promote policy change and wide public participation. For the purpose of improving the stature and consistency of climate reporting in Nepal, the study makes some valuable suggestions based on these results. One of the key suggestions of the findings is to empower media-government cooperation,  while creating specialized climate change beats, and improving journalist training.