FRAMING SMOG IN PAKISTANI NEWSPAPERS: AN ECOLINGUISTICS ANALYSIS OF ENVIORNMENTAL DISCOURSES

Abstract

This study explores the linguistic framing of smog in selected Pakistani English-language newspapers from an ecolinguistics framework, with the aim of demonstrating how media discourse impacts public perception of environmental issues and ecological responsibility. The study employs a qualitative interpretive approach based on Arran Stibbe's ecolinguistics framework, namely the concept of the "stories we live by," and focuses on eight news articles from four major newspapers: Dawn, The News, The Nation, and The Express Tribune. The study examines how smog is portrayed in environmental discourse, highlights prevailing framing techniques, and assesses the ecological consequences of these portrayals on Pakistani public consciousness. The results show that while larger environmental interconnection and long-term sustainability are still generally ignored, smog is primarily defined as a human-focused and crisis-based phenomenon with an emphasis on health hazards, urgent measures, and governmental interventions. Reporting is dominated by institutional and technocratic narratives, which give news coverage credibility but also removing readers from systemic environmental causes and experienced ecological realities. From an ecolinguistics perspective, such discourse perpetuates anthropocentric narratives that, rather than opposing unsustainable activities, tend to legitimate environmental damage. The study emphasizes the need for more environmentally grounded, optimistic narratives within environmental journalism and suggests that Pakistani newspapers have a major but limited role in promoting ecological consciousness.