The institutional, structural and policy dimensions of climate change coverage in Zambia : a case of the Zambia Daily Mail and the Daily Nation newspapers.

Abstract

Climate change coverage by both the print and electronic media in Zambia is very sparse compared to topics such as sports, politics or entertainment, yet it impacts significantly on our daily lives. Thus, having observed the foregoing, the study sought to investigate the structural, institutional and policy concerns which affect both the Zambia Daily Mail and the Daily Nation newspapers coverage of climate change. Key objectives of the study were: to determine the institutional, structural and other factors that influence the Zambia Daily Mail and the Daily Nation’s decisions to cover climate change stories, the role of editorial policy in coverage of climate change by the Zambia Daily Mail and the Daily Nation, and the levels of coverage of climate change by both the Zambia Daily Mail and the Daily Nation newspapers. Although there were similar available scholarly works on the subject, their context was not focused on climate change coverage by the press in Zambia, but was rather more widely focused and general in nature. The study applied mixed methods utilising both Qualitative and Quantitative research designs. In particular, the study used Content Analysis and Explanatory Case Study. Significant findings of the study showed that among the factors affecting climate change coverage in Zambia is the lack of specific editorial policies for coverage of climate change by the media. This is compounded by lack of specialised training for journalists and reporters on climate change. It was further observed that the Zambia Daily Mail had more climate change coverage compared to the Daily Nation. This was attributed to the deliberate effort by the Zambia Climate Change Network (ZCCN) which has been supporting a reporter within the Zambia Daily Mail to cover climate change, while the Daily Nation has no such arrangements. Additionally, the Zambia Daily Mail, being state owned, has a bigger budget as compared to that of the Daily Nation, thus, had more capacity to cover climate change.