Framing environmental risk, Development, and institutional authority in Arab journalism: a comparative study of Emirati and Jordanian newspapers

Arabic-language environmental journalism remains underrepresented in comparative research on media, environmental risk, and public communication. This study examines how Al Bayan in the United Arab Emirates and Al Rai in Jordan represented environmental issues during 2025. It uses a comparative quantitative content analysis with deductively defined frame categories to analyze 939 environmental newspaper items retrieved from the newspapers' searchable electronic archives: 456 from Al Bayan and 483 from Al Rai. Each newspaper item was coded for one dominant frame – achievement, challenge, or awareness – together with source type, tone, topic, article length, month of publication, and photographic presence. The frame distribution differed strongly by newspaper. Al Bayan contained a higher proportion of achievement and awareness frames, while Al Rai contained a higher proportion of challenge frames. Official sources dominated both outlets and citizens were rarely visible. Tone, topic distribution, article length, monthly distribution, and photographic presence also differed, although the photographic difference was small. The findings show that environmental meaning in Arabic journalism is associated with nationally specific issue agendas, institutional source visibility, and editorial presentation. Because the design is cross-sectional and content-based, it identifies associations rather than causal newsroom mechanisms.