The Role of the Zambian Media in Public Environmental Awareness and Education

Abstract

Successful environmental communication is achieved through a well informed public as it will be better equipped and positioned to tackle environmental challenges of the 21st Century. A well informed public is partly a result of the role the media plays in disseminating information. Hence the media play a strategic role in raising public environmental awareness, dissemination of environmental information and inspiring environmental action. This study looked at the role of the Zambian media in public environmental awareness and education. The study aimed at finding out the role of the Zambian media in public environmental awareness and education. The study had three objectives: 1. to find out how many environmental journalists there were in selected media organisations; 2. to determine the content of environmental information published by the selected media; and 3. to find out the contribution of environmental journalism to the lives of ordinary people in the selected Zambian urban, peri-urban, and rural areas. The study used qualitative and quantitative research designs and also a survey research technique. The research analysed environmental contents of three prominent daily newspapers in Zambia namely The Post, Zambia Daily Mail and Times of Zambia. The study also captured views and experiences of respondents from which qualitative and quantitative data was obtained. Purposive and random sampling were used to select respondents from the three dailies and from a cross section of the Zambian society. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel were used to process field data. To collect primary data, daily publications in three selected months of May, June and July 2010 by the three newspaper companies were analysed to determine the topics and frequency of environmental news coverage. Questionnaires were administered to editors and journalists from the three daily newspapers and also a cross section of the Zambian society. The findings of the research indicated that the people tasked with the collection and publication of environmental information were not trained in environmental matters hence their inability to successfully communicate environmental information in an interesting and educative manner. More space was dedicated to the printing of political and sports news compared to environmental information which was deemed unsellable and bad for business. The study further found out that much of the space allocated to environmental coverage was dedicated to pollution. Further, most of the environmental events covered were based in urban areas and were noticed when accompanied by a prominent person in society or the government of the day. The study also found out that the public lacked sensitisation in environmental matters resulting in the inability of the people to be environmentally responsible either individually or at community level. The study recommended the following: 1. In-service media personnel need to be trained through refresher courses in environmental matters. 2. Environmental programmes to be designed in all institutions of higher learning that will train journalists who will tackle and cover environmental issues ably, as is the case in developed countries; and recommends that 3. The media needs to place value on environmental coverage by carrying out indepth analyses and research on the issues and events they publish.