Religious Tension in Media: Coverage Patterns of Two Bangladeshi Newspapers

This study examines how two ideologically different Bangladeshi newspapers covered the 2021 ‎Comilla communal violence, which erupted after a Quran was allegedly placed at a temporary ‎Hindu Temple during Durga Puja festivities. We conducted a mixed-method content analysis ‎of 260 news articles from Daily Prothom Alo (progressive n=154) and Daily Nayadiganta ‎‎(religiously aligned n=106) published during the 15 days period following the incident. ‎Quantitative analysis coverage frequency, placement, and sources using t-test, while qualitative ‎thematic analysis identified editorial preferences and strategies. Although Daily Prothom Alo ‎published more articles (M=28.8) than Daily Nayadiganta (M=18.1), the different was not ‎statistically significant (p=0.176). However, qualitative analysis revealed distinct editorial ‎strategies. Prothom Alo distributed coverage across pages, employed diverse formats, and ‎highlighted victim experiences while demanding accountability. Daily Nayadiganta concentrated ‎coverage on front and back pages, emphasizing Islamic discourse. Both newspapers ‎demonstrated critical shortcomings: over-reliance on political and police sources, ‎marginalization of victim voices, and absence of investigative reporting. Neither examined ‎underlying causes of the incident, instead focused on daily events and political finger-pointing. ‎These findings suggests that inadequate source diversity and weak investigative journalism ‎limits media’s ability to contextualize religious tensions, potentially perpetuating rather than ‎resolving conflicts. Bangladeshi media requires stronger investigative capacity, particularly ‎among rural reporters for on investigative reporting, deliberate inclusion of minority voices, and ‎examining structural factors driving communal violence to effectively promote informed public ‎discourse and social cohesion.‎