Media and think tanks have strong incentives to engage with each other. While think tanks require media to propagate their research findings to policymakers and the attentive public, media need think tanks’ expertise to explain issues and analyze current affairs. This study examines various dimensions of the engagements between media and think tanks in Bangladesh. Primary data is collected via structured questionnaire with 57 journalists and key informant interviews with eight senior media professionals. The findings show that extensive interactions between journalists and think tanks do not necessarily result in quality coverage of think tanks’ policy-oriented research and advocacy initiatives. Lack of capacity of journalists to understand and report on development and policy issues, political inclinations of both think tanks and media and weak media relations expertise of think tanks pose obstacles to the effective engagement.
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