The Role of the Zambian Media in Public Environmental Awareness and Education
Authors: Simooya Steriah Monica 
Published: September 2021

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.