The Nigerian press and environmental information for sustainable development The Nigerian press and environmental information for sustainable development

This art icle was downloaded by: [ I bidun Adelekan] On: 25 May 2014, At : 11: 23 Publisher: Rout ledge I nform a Lt d Regist ered in England and Wales Regist ered Num ber: 1072954 Regist ered office: Mort im er House, 37- 41 Mort im er St reet , London W1T 3JH, UK Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability Publicat ion det ails, including inst ruct ions f or aut hors and subscript ion inf ormat ion: ht t p: / / www. t andf online. com/ loi/ cloe20 The Nigerian press and environmental information for sustainable development Ibidun O. Adelekan a a Depart ment of Geography , Universit y of Ibadan , Ibadan, Nigeria Published online: 30 Mar 2009. To cite this article: Ibidun O. Adelekan (2009) The Nigerian press and environment al inf ormat ion f or sust ainable development , Local Environment : The Int ernat ional Journal of Just ice and Sust ainabilit y, 14: 4, 297-312, DOI: 10. 1080/ 13549830902764662 To link to this article: ht t p: / / dx. doi. org/ 10. 1080/ 13549830902764662 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTI CLE Taylor & Francis m akes every effort t o ensure t he accuracy of all t he inform at ion ( t he “ Cont ent ” ) cont ained in t he publicat ions on our plat form . However, Taylor & Francis, our agent s, and our licensors m ake no represent at ions or warrant ies what soever as t o t he accuracy, com plet eness, or suit abilit y for any purpose of t he Cont ent . Any opinions and views expressed in t his publicat ion are t he opinions and views of t he aut hors, and are not t he views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of t he Cont ent should not be relied upon and should be independent ly verified wit h prim ary sources of inform at ion. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, act ions, claim s, proceedings, dem ands, cost s, expenses, dam ages, and ot her liabilit ies what soever or howsoever caused arising direct ly or indirect ly in connect ion wit h, in relat ion t o or arising out of t he use of t he Cont ent . This art icle m ay be used for research, t eaching, and privat e st udy purposes. Any subst ant ial or syst em at ic reproduct ion, redist ribut ion, reselling, loan, sub- licensing, syst em at ic supply, or dist ribut ion in any form t o anyone is expressly forbidden. Term s & Condit ions of access and use can be found at ht t p: / / www.t andfonline.com / page/ t erm sand- condit ions Local Environment Vol. 14, No. 4, April 2009, 297 –312 The Nigerian press and environmental information for sustainable development Ibidun O. Adelekan Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 Department of Geography, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria The prominence accorded the environment and the importance of public engagement in sustainable development issues during the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development underscores the role of environmental information in achieving local environmental sustainability goals. The paper examines the role of the Nigerian press, one of the most vibrant in sub-Saharan Africa, in reporting environmental issues at the turn of the twenty-first century. Two national newspapers, The Daily Times and The Guardian were content analysed for coverage of environmental issues, including climate change, for the 5-year period 1999–2003. The degree of prominence and nature of environmental reports are assessed. The results show that energy issues dominate reports on the environment in both newspapers while climate change, a critical global environmental issue is accorded very little attention. Both newspapers assessed are yet to actively feature environmental articles tailored to issues of everyday life as majority of environmental publications are news reports. Keywords: environmental communication; sustainable development; newspapers; Nigeria 1. Introduction The issue of development is one of the most divisive of our time. And development at what cost. Should it come at the expense of the environment, so that rapid economic growth lays the seeds of future catastrophes? G. Paschal Zachary The discourse on various environmental issues has been on within the scientific community and between the scientific and policy communities for more than two decades. This has been largely due to the recognition of the links between the natural environment and economic development. The link between environment and development is particularly strong in sub-Saharan Africa where most national economies are dependent on agriculture and natural resources at the primary production and processing stages than any other region in the world. A key challenge facing Africa, therefore, is the failure of economic markets to capture and promote the real value of Africa’s natural resources. Since commodity prices on exports from developing countries are determined by the World Trade Organisation through a quota system, in most countries national policies and market activities fail to reflect the economic value and potential of their natural  Email: ibiadelekan@yahoo.com, ibidun.adelekan@mail.ui.edu.ng ISSN 1354-9839 print/ISSN 1469-6711 online # 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/13549830902764662 http://www.informaworld.com Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 298 I.O. Adelekan resources. This has resulted in degradation and overexploitation of natural resources with a focus on maximising profits at the expense of environmental management and protection (UNEP 2002). The declining natural base of the entire region therefore constitutes real and critical concerns for the rapidly increasing population. Sustainable management of the environment is consequently not a negotiable issue for all countries of the sub-region if sustainable development is to be realised. Two tenets of the concept of sustainable development contained in the Brundtland Commission Report of 1987 and Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference for Environment and Development (UNCED 1992) are: (i) there is a crucial and potentially positive link between economic development and environment and (ii) environment problems pay no respect to borders and therefore require regional and global actions. Broad acceptance of these tenets has not, however, ensured their effective realisation. For instance, at the 1992 UNCED, 41 African nations endorsed Agenda 21 as a comprehensive international framework but more than a decade after good environmental performance in many African countries still appears elusive. Agenda 21 highlights the fact that education, both formal and informal, is critical for promoting sustainable development. Education is essential for achieving environmental awareness and promoting attitudes and values in people so that they have the capacity to assess and address their sustainable development concerns. Interpretations of environmental education and education for sustainability infer that it is a process that seeks to create an environmentally responsible population that contribute to sustainable development and consists of some distinct components. These components include information, awareness, education, knowledge and responsible behaviour (UNESCO 1993, Hawthorne and Alabaster 1999). In highlighting the importance of environmental education, Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 states that: There is still a considerable lack of awareness of the interrelated nature of all human activities and the environment, due to inaccurate or insufficient information. Developing countries in particular lack relevant technologies and expertise. . .. Environmental information is acknowledged as a crucial first step to the effective participation of citizens in a more sustainable lifestyle (Wilcox 1993). It is one of the cornerstones for sustainable development strategies because access to environmental information promotes alertness to environmental problems, enables the public to make informed personal choices and contributes to the protection of the environment. In accentuating the significance of environmental education, the United Nations General Assembly in her 57th Session in December 2002, proclaimed the period 2005 –2014 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. In the light of the above, the paper examines the environmental stewardship of the press media in Nigeria at the turn of the twenty-first century. This is assessed by examining the coverage of environmental issues in terms of the kind of environmental information communicated to the public and their prominence in two national daily newspapers. 2. Linking sustainable development and environment Barbier (1987) described the primary objective of sustainable economic development as “reducing the absolute poverty of the world’s poor through providing lasting and secure livelihoods that minimize resource depletion, environmental degradation, cultural Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 Local Environment 299 disruption and social instability”. At an operational level, Castri (1995) recognised four interlinked dimensions of sustainable development. These are the economic, environmental, social and cultural dimensions which may be regarded as four legs of the sustainable development chair. For development to be sustainable in the long term, there needs to be a balance between these four dimensions. In several developing countries with very rapid economic growth, a long and unstable economic leg is out of balance with a progressively weakening environmental leg (Castri 1995). Efforts to attain development in such countries without recourse to the environment have not been sustainable. Decision-makers in most developing countries now accept that poor management of the environment has become a significant barrier to development (Munasinghe 1993). There are nevertheless opposing views of the relationship between environment and development in the search for a global solution to development and environmental problems. This is aptly highlighted by Goodland and Edmundson (1994) who observed that in industrial countries where the present level of consumption jeopardises global sustainability more than population growth the greatest challenge is moderating per capita impact. In the poorest countries where the ecosystems on which people depend are threatened by population pressure, land and water degradation, deforestation and other forms of environmental stress, economic development remains the greatest challenge. To address this challenge in developing countries, Munasinghe (1993) advocates the effective incorporation of environmental concerns into decision-making as an essential step toward economically efficient management of natural resources and formulating a practical strategy for sustainable development. At the decision making level, policy makers need to explicitly identify connections between economic policy and the environment in order to promote positive synergies and minimise adverse environmental impacts. Planners and decisionmakers alone, however, cannot effect a change in the status quo as public understanding of and participation at all levels is required. 3. Media communication for development Good communication is the basis of most sustainable development initiatives and the mass media has been identified as a very important communication tool. This is because of its great capacity for reaching large numbers of the population with relevant information. In this regard, journalists, considering their dialogue with multiple audiences, are, when adequately equipped, able to inspire the needed public support. The significance of the media in informing the public on various issues is supported by different constructs. Two of such are the gate-keeping and agenda-setting functions of the media. The gatekeeping function of the media is evident in the role of the media in deciding what the public learns and how the public interprets the day’s events and news in the nation and the world. This is achieved through the coverage and slant given to issues. These gatekeeping decisions are influenced by many factors including ownership and management policy of the media organisation, perceived needs and preferences of the audience and expertise of editorial staff. The agenda-setting influence of the news media describes the power of the news media to focus public attention on a few key public issues (McCombs and Shaw 1972, Dearing and Rogers 1992, McCombs 2006). This agenda-setting influence of the media on the public is reflected in its pattern of coverage on public issues over some period of time. Wanta and Ghanem (2006) noted that ranking of issues on the media agenda and public ranking of the importance of the same issues yield correlations of þ0.50 or better. Also, the aspects of issues selected for attention by the media similarly influence the public’s Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 300 I.O. Adelekan perception of these issues. From the pattern of the total news coverage, the public learns what journalists consider to be the important issues. From the details of the coverage of a particular issue, the public also forms its images and perspectives about these issues. The media also determine to a large extent how the public act on such issues. Mikami et al. (1995) showed a high correlation of þ0.78 between the media presentation of global environmental issues and Tokyo residents perception of eight aspects of these issues. The media has therefore been acknowledged to play an important role in the social construction and understanding of public issues including politics and the environment (Schoenfeld et al. 1979, Hansen 1991, Kalof 1997, Wagner 2007). Mass media coverage on the environment has been known to foster public opinion, political action and protest (Lowe and Morrison 1984). Burgess et al. (1991) illustrated how different groups incorporated media messages into their particular understanding of environmental issues. Oepen (2000) recognised the planned and strategic use of the communication process and media products to support effective policy making and public participation geared towards environmental sustainability, as a key approach to raising awareness of environmental issues. In this way, especially in developed countries, the media when adequately positioned, has aided to a large extent the general level of understanding of environmental issues. Several studies (Parlour and Schatzow 1978, Schoenfeld et al. 1979, Parlour 1980, Schnelle et al. 1980, Bowman and Fuchs 1981, Sekar 1981, Griffin and Dunwoody 1995, Boykoff and Boykoff 2004) have highlighted the key role that the mass media play in shaping public awareness of environmental issues and in changing attitudes and behaviours concerning the environment. Studies have shown that in developed countries newspapers in particular are important sources of information on public issues (Bowman 1978, Ostman and Parker 1987, McCallum et al. 1991). This has also been shown to be the case in many developing countries of Asia and Latin America (Vieira 1985, Kurth et al. 1990, Khator 1991, Dasgupta et al. 2000). Newspapers, for instance, through the positioning of news items provide cues about the salience of the topics in the daily news. Some of these cues include front page stories, large headlines and editorial page coverage. However, many developing countries are yet to fully appropriate the advantages of information and communication technology to support the access of the general public to environmental information. 4. The press in Nigeria Nigeria has one of the biggest and most virile press community in Africa alongside those of South Africa and Kenya. Since the 1920s, the Nigerian press has remained a vibrant institution playing crucial roles in the country’s social, political and economic development. Over 100 newspapers are published regularly of which about 17 have a national circulation. Major national newspapers published in the country include The Daily Times, The Guardian, The Punch, The Vanguard, This Day, The Nation and The Daily Sun. Many regional and local newspapers also abound. The Daily Times, Nigeria’s pioneer newspaper published in Lagos, was established as a government-owned publication in 1926. Consequent to Nigeria’s independence in 1960, The Daily Times played a major role in championing the enlightenment of the Nigerian public on governance and other issues, contributed in shaping public and private thinking and also influenced how civil servants formulated and implemented policies. In the 1960s, The Daily Times was probably black Africa’s widest circulated newspaper (Ugboajah 1980). By the 1990s, The Daily Times had the most varied readership cutting across different social, economic and ethnic class in the country with an average circulation of 45,000. Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 Local Environment 301 The Guardian was established in 1982 as an independent newspaper for the “purpose of presenting balanced coverage of events and of promoting the best interest of Nigeria”. The Guardian, with an average daily circulation of 60,000 in 1999, is one of Nigeria’s most reputable newspapers, respected for its sober analysis of issues and professionalism. The newspaper is largely patronised by the intellectual class. An area in which the Nigerian press has consistently played a prominent role is in the polity of the country. The nationalists employed the press as an instrument of struggle during the pre-independence and military era. Thereafter, the press has continued to influence the politics of the country through the presentation of politically crucial information to the public (Ekeanyanwu 2007). A survey of two widely read newspapers in southwest Nigeria for the period 1985 – 1991 showed that the main thrust of editorials and articles were centred mainly on economic and development issues, international and national politics, health and education, to the neglect of environmental issues (Agbola et al. 1999). Prior to 1988, the Nigerian media had mainly concerned itself with issues related to local environmental sanitation and environmental crises of enormous proportions such as floods, drought, wind hazards, widespread pest infestation, oil spillages and dumping of toxic wastes. These reports usually featured after extreme events or environmental hazards had occurred. The first major initiative in Nigeria to highlight the relevance of the media in providing environmental information and awareness to the public was a 3day workshop jointly organised by the country’s Federal Environment Protection Agency (FEPA) and the World Bank in 1996. The workshop acknowledged that a dearth exists in environmental reports in the Nigerian media. The major factor that contributed to the state of environmental news reporting at the time was the absence of reporters purposefully assigned to cover the subject of the environment. Journalists also lacked proper training in the language of the environment and therefore were unable to inform the public adequately on the topics being reported. The culture whereby scientists and researchers are reticent to grant interviews to the media for fear of being misrepresented or misquoted also greatly hindered the reporting of useful scientific and environmental information. The press approach to the famine in northern Nigeria, which resulted from the larger Sahelian and West African drought of 1972 – 1974, provides an example of media coverage of environmental issues during the later half of the twentieth century. Throughout 1972 – 1973, there was little general awareness in the rest of Nigeria of either the nature or extent of the problem as only isolated reports in the national dailies indicated the situation was serious (van Apeldoorn 1981). It was not until late October 1973 that public awareness of the issue was stirred up by the press. The Daily Times on this occasion played a landmark role in focusing attention on and mediating the public and governmental response to the famine. With growing public awareness of the drought, and deeper interest in causes and solutions, a larger proportion of the newspaper’s coverage became analytical rather than reportorial (Reddy 1988). 5. Environmental sustainability in Nigeria The general appraisal of the state of the Nigerian environment is that it is plagued by a plethora of problems and the outlook is poor (Federal Government of Nigeria 1997). A wide range of environmental problems exist in the country and include loss of biodiversity, pollution from oil spillage and gas flaring aside other forms of domestic and industrial pollution, solid waste generation, urban decay, soil and coastal erosion, flooding (urban, coastal and river), land degradation, drought, desertification and environmental disasters of all kinds. A pattern of socio-economic development with little consideration of Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 302 I.O. Adelekan environmental sustainability underlies most of these problems. The cost of unsustainable development for Nigeria in terms of ecological and economic loses if major environmental problems continue unchecked has been estimated to be as high as US$ 5.1 billion per year. An indication of the environmental performance of the country is provided by the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI 2005). The ESI is a measure of the overall progress towards environmental sustainability, which provides a composite index tracking a diverse set of socio-economic, environmental and institutional indicators that characterise and influence environmental sustainability at the national scale (Esty et al. 2005). In 2002, the ESI for Nigeria was assessed to be 36.70. This value indicated poor environmental performance and a low level of environmental sustainability that ranked Nigeria 133 out of the 142 countries considered. Concerted efforts geared towards achieving environmental sustainability in the country did not commence until after the 1992 UNCED conference which raised international awareness on the need to integrate environmental concerns into resource management policy and planning process as a means of promoting sustainable development. The Nigerian government’s response to this awareness has been 4-fold and includes enhancement and introduction of appropriate institutional and policy framework, capacity and institutional strengthening, encouragement of private initiatives and collaboration with international organisations by signing and/or ratifying a number of international environmental conventions and treaties. The eye-opener to environmental consciousness in the country was the illegal dumping of 3880 tons of toxic and hazardous wastes at the port town of Koko in southern Nigeria from Italy in 1988. This incident created much environmental awareness among the Nigerian public as it was widely publicised by the media. It also informed the enactment of the Harmful (Toxic) Wastes Criminal Provision Act 42 of 25 November 1988. The FEPA was also established in 1988, and, in 1992, the agency had its mandate expanded by Decree 59 to cover conservation of natural resources and biological diversity. Also, the National Policy on Environment, which was launched in 1989, was revised, partly in view of the necessity to integrate environmental concerns into all sectors of the economy. In 1997, a new environmental policy was developed as an outcome of the country’s Vision 2010 document. The Vision 2010 document was produced as a blueprint for the country’s socio-economic development to be achieved by her 50th year of independence from colonial rule in 2010 (Federal Government of Nigeria 1997). An important aspect of the blueprint is the environment, in which the current state of the local environment was considered in terms of problems and future goals and strategies to achieve the objectives of a sustainable environment in line with Agenda 21. A key strategy to ensuring environmental sustainability in the Vision 2010 document is managing environmental information and education to generate adequate public awareness at all levels for decision-making. Regardless of existing institutional structures, achievements relating to environmental sustainability have remained minimal. Among the constraints to achieving the desired goals are the “top-down” approach in the planning and implementation of environmental related programmes and inadequate awareness of the public on the interrelated nature of socio-economic activities and the environment. 6. Methodology The primary data source for the study is publications of two major and nationally circulated newspapers – The Daily Times and The Guardian newspapers for the 5-year period 1999 – 2003. The choice of these two newspapers was based on their readership base which is Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 Local Environment 303 nationwide, their coverage of both national and international issues and circulation strength as well as their journalistic reputation as described in the preceding section. Daily publications of the two newspapers during weekdays throughout the study period constituted the study population. Thus, 1300 issues of each newspaper were content analysed. Content analysis is particularly well suited to the study of communications and most environment researchers have employed content analysis to assess the importance of environmental issues in the print media through counting of articles, counting the frequency of specific issues and measuring trends in coverage of environmental issues (Parlour and Schatzow 1978, Sekar 1981, Babbie 2008). The coverage of environment reports are examined under nine broad categories purposely developed for the analysis of the newspapers. These are pollution, climate change issues (i.e. global warming and greenhouse gases, ozone layer depletion, climate and temperature changes etc.), natural events (including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and landslides), environmental conservation, energy, agriculture, urban degradation, desertification/deforestation and the environment in general. The frequency of reports featuring under any of these categories were counted and the reports were further analysed to determine the kind of environmental information published including news reports comprising local news (NL) and global news (NG), general articles (AG), scientific articles (AS) and editorials (E). In addition, the prominence given to environmental issues was assessed by counting the number of editorials and front page reports on the environment. 7. Results 7.1 Coverage of environmental issues A total of 940 and 871 environmental reports were published in The Guardian and The Daily Times newspapers, respectively, during the 5-year period. The annual mean number of environmental reports for the survey period was 174 for The Daily Times and 188 for The Guardian newspapers. Assessment of the environmental content of the two newspapers showed that four of the nine categories of environmental issues delineated for the study received more coverage than others. These are energy, environment in general, natural events, and agriculture (Figure 1). Emphasis was placed on energy resources issues in the environmental coverage of both newspapers surveyed. On an annual basis, an average of 66.5% of all environment reports in The Daily Times during the survey period addressed energy issues. In the case of The Guardian, except for the year 2003, when energy accounted for 3.7% of environmental reports, an average of 63.3% of environmental reports was energy-related during 1999 – 2002. The focus on energy issues can be explained by the fact that Nigeria is a major oil producing country with 90% of her foreign exchange earnings derived from oil resources. Oil therefore plays a major role in the social and economic development of the country. The exploration and exploitation of oil resource impacts significantly on the Nigerian environment and gas flaring has global consequences in terms of carbon dioxide emissions and global climate change. Most reports, however, had an economic slant and focused on analysis of the production of oil and natural gas, oil prices in the international market and the implications for the national economy. The reports did not provide analysis of the links between energy, economy and the environment which is very important considering the role of oil resources and its associated impacts on the socio-economic development of the nation. Environmental dimensions of oil production did not feature in press reports except when conflicts occurred between multinational oil companies and communities of the oil-producing areas. This is regardless of the fact that in most instances the adverse Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 304 Figure 1. I.O. Adelekan Coverage of environmental issues by category (1999 –2003). environmental impacts of oil production on the livelihood and socio-economic development of the communities in addition to the issues of resource control are the focus of conflicts. Substantial damage to the human and bio-physical environment from oil spills, gas flaring and deforestation arising from oil prospecting activities is a major challenge to sustainable development. It is estimated that since the 1960s over 4000 oil spills have been recorded in this area, resulting in the loss of large stands of mangrove trees, a major source of fuel wood for local people and habitat for the area’s biodiversity. After energy resources issues, reports on the environment in general ranked second in emphasis for the two newspapers. Information under this broad category dealt largely with issues and news reports on solid waste generation and management in urban centres, water supply, activities of the FEPA and government efforts at tackling environmental degradation. This category of issues accounted for 11.5% and 13.8% of total environmental reports published in The Daily Times and The Guardian newspapers, respectively. Natural events ranked third in focus accounting for 6.9% and 8.8% of total environment reports for The Daily Times and The Guardian newspapers, respectively. Reports of natural events were mainly local news reports of damages arising from occurrence of heavy rainstorms, urban floods and soil erosion in different parts of the country. Global news reports of natural disasters including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in other parts of the world were also reported. Publications on the agricultural sector accounted for 5.9% and 6.6% of environmental reports in The Daily Times and The Guardian newspapers, respectively. Pollution of land and water accounted for 2% and 4% of total environmental reports for The Daily Times Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 Local Environment 305 and The Guardian newspapers, respectively, during the same period. Other categories of environmental reports comprising climate change, conservation, biodiversity, desertification and deforestation were not given prominence and therefore accounted for an average of 10% of total environment reports in both newspapers during the survey period. The pattern of coverage of environmental issues for the study period showed different trends for both newspapers. While annual total number of environment reports over the period of study decreased for The Daily Times, the annual total number of environment reports in The Guardian newspapers increased (Figure 2). No definite pattern was, however, observed in the coverage of specific environmental issues over the 5-year period which suggested that no editorial policy existed with regards to focus of environmental reports for the two newspapers (Figure 3). Less than 10% of publications analysed for both newspapers featured environmental reports of any kind on the front page. Only 104 (8%) and 75 (6%) issues of The Guardian and The Daily Times, respectively, reported environmental issues on the front page. Over 85% of the front page reports were news features on energy issues (The Daily Times, 91%; The Guardian, 87.5%). 7.2 Nature of environment reporting Environmental reports in both newspapers were found to be mainly in the form of news reports, i.e. reports of happenings of environmental leanings. News accounted for 83% and 90.2% of all environmental reports in The Daily Times and The Guardian newspapers, respectively (Figure 4). Majority of these news reports were local and accounted for 83% and 82% of total environment news reports in The Daily Times and The Guardian, respectively. Editorials followed after news reports in the order of environmental reports for The Daily Times and accounted for 8.2% of total environmental reports. This was followed Figure 2. Trend in newspaper coverage of environmental issues (1999–2003). I.O. Adelekan Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 306 Figure 3. Trend in coverage of categories of environmental issues (1999–2003). Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 Local Environment Figure 4. 307 Nature of environmental reports (1999–2003). by general interest articles on the environment (7.5%) and scientific articles (2.3%). In the case of The Guardian newspapers, general interest and scientific articles accounted for 5.5% and 3.3% of total environment reports while editorial reports on the environment did not feature significantly (1%). The environment was not accorded much attention as seen in the number of editorials on environment issues by the two newspapers. Of the 1300 issues searched for each of the two newspapers, 72 (5.6%) and nine (0.7%) issues of The Daily Times and The Guardian, respectively, carried environment-related editorials. As with front page environment reports, the focus of most editorials on the environment was energy. Sixty (83%) of the editorials in The Daily Times were energy-related while five (55%) were energy related in The Guardian. Despite the importance of the agricultural sector to the livelihood of over 65% of the population, only two (0.2%) and one (0.08%) agricultural editorials were published in The Daily Times and The Guardian, respectively, during the period. The pattern of environmental coverage shows that a holistic approach to environment reporting has not been adopted by the Nigerian press. Rather, emphasis was placed on news reports of happenings related to the environment; the press did little during the period to educate the public and raise awareness of environmental issues. The paucity of informative articles and editorials on the environment suggested that the Nigerian press did not actively seek to inform the public on environmental issues. 308 I.O. Adelekan Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 7.3 Climate change issues Reports of climate change issues during the survey period averaged 3.7% and 6.6% of total annual environmental reports for The Daily Times and The Guardian newspapers, respectively. Climate reports analysed were evaluated under three main headings-greenhouse gases and global warming, ozone layer depletion and climate changes (Table 1). From the number of publications on climate issues in relation to other environment reports, it is evident that reporting of climate in both newspapers is very minimal. This may be attributed to the “creeping” nature of this global environmental problem. Because the effects have not been experienced in alarming magnitudes in the country, the Nigerian media do not regard it important enough to pay attention to it. Nevertheless, The Guardian newspaper featured more climate change reports than The Daily Times. The general trend during the survey period for both newspapers was that of gradual increase in reporting of climate change issues between 1999 and 2003. Ozone layer depletion was barely reported between 1999 and 2002 until 2003 when nine and seven publications on this topic featured in The Guardian and The Daily Times, respectively. The Guardian, however, published 23 reports on climate in general in 2003 which indicated a marked improvement in climate reporting. Further analysis of climate reports provide insight into the kind of climate information featured in both newspapers. For both newspapers, it is observed that news reports of climate change issues accounted for about 50% of all climate information published (Table 2). Climate news reports were, however, biased towards global events. While local climate news report in The Daily Times accounted for 20% of all climate news reports and that of The Guardian was only 6.2%. Some examples of global climate news reported include the following headlines: Ozone growth more alarming UN warns, The Guardian, 9 September 2000 Scientific study confirms green house effect, The Guardian, 19 March 2001 Global warming to cost $300b by 2050 says UN, The Guardian, 5 February 2001 $304 million lost to global warming, The Daily Times, 12 February 2001 Table 1. Frequency of climate reports by category (1999–2003). 1999 Greenhouse gases/global warming Ozone layer depletion Climate changes 2000 2001 2002 2003 G DT G DT G DT G DT G DT 3 0 2 1 2 1 4 2 3 1 0 1 7 0 2 5 1 1 1 0 4 0 0 1 2 9 23 7 7 4 G, The Guardian; DT, The Daily Times. Table 2. Nature of climate information reported. Type Global news (NG) Local news (NL) Scientific article (AS) General article (AG) Editorial (E) The Guardian The Daily Times 50.0% 6.2% 43.8% – – 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 10.0% 20.0% Local Environment 309 Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 Collapse of giant Antarctic ice strokes fears of global warming, The Guardian, 21 March 2002 European Union Nations endorse Kyoto pact on global warming, The Guardian, 1 June 2002 Human induced climate change is dangerous as nuclear arm, The Daily Times, 9 September 2003. The information contained in such global news reports was not useful to majority of the Nigerian reading public as the contents had no immediate or practical relevance to the generality of the public. In reporting global news on the environment it is imperative to “think globally and act locally” implying the necessity of interpreting global happenings as they affect the local environment in which the people live. It is only then that such global news can be meaningful. On the other hand, most local news reports on climate change-related issues appeared to be more relevant to the public since issues reported were readily identified with by the readers. Examples of such local news reports include the following: Gas flare-out target under threat, The Daily Times, 9 November 1999 Ozone and related environmental issues, The Daily Times, 22 September 2001 Experts seek policies to check impact of climate change, The Guardian, 12 February 2002. Climate is nevertheless an important determinant of socio-economic development in the country. A great window of opportunity therefore exists for the Nigerian press in the reporting of climate, especially as it relates to the Nigerian environment for sustainable development. 8. Implications of study and conclusion The paper has examined the coverage of environmental issues in The Daily Times and The Guardian, two national and widely circulated daily newspapers in Nigeria, during the period 1999– 2003. More than 80% of environmental information in both newspapers comprised local news reports of environmental leanings within the country. Minimal attention was given to environment reports in the form of editorials, or scientific and general articles in both newspapers. The pattern of simply reporting local news or reproducing news from foreign press without a detailed analysis of such environmental events and issues does not provide the public with adequate information to enable them form opinions and perspectives of different environmental issues. To achieve this, the presentation of environmental information by the press needs to move beyond mere reporting of news events to analysing environmental events and issues in a form that is relevant to problems of everyday life in order to communicate meaningfully to the public. In this regard, the press media must work towards a balanced analysis of issues. Implications, choices and alternatives need to be presented in environment reports to have positive impacts in terms of public understanding. In particular, such analysis would also touch on how these issues should be addressed by relevant stakeholders. For this to be actualised media organisations in developing countries must seek to consult experts in the field of environment and development to contribute to environment reports since most media organisations do not have in-house personnel with the requisite training/capacity to cover the environment in a manner beneficial to the public. Environmental coverage in the two newspapers was found to be largely around energy resources issues. Important issues such as agriculture and deforestation are not given the Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 310 I.O. Adelekan required attention. Climate change, a very important global environmental issue, with important implications for the environment and human development, was also not accorded the coverage required. This is apparently an outcome of the press perception of what is considered to be the priority of the country in terms of her economic development. Hitherto, the Nigerian press media have not effectively set the agenda with respect to the environment due to the limited understanding by journalists of the link between environment and development. This is partly conditioned by the region in which the journalist operates as the approach to development reporting, i.e. whether balanced or lopsided is not unconnected to the region being served by the media. The observed pattern of coverage of aspects of environmental issues, especially energy, above others therefore arises as a result of the perception and level of understanding of gate-keepers of knowledge concerning such issues. The Nigerian press, therefore, needs to cover the environment in a holistic manner if the country is to achieve her sustainable development goals. An important aspect of media communication useful for individual and social change yet to be employed to realise Nigeria’s environmental goals is media advocacy. Since the late 1980s, media advocacy has proved a popular approach to strategically using mass media to promote public policy, especially health goals (Wallack 1994). In this regard, the editorial page coverage serves as an avenue for presenting environmental information for promoting sustainable environmental policies. Likewise, the value of opinion polls in assessing government policies that impact on the environment is yet to be employed by the Nigerian press. The petroleum pricing policy of the Nigerian government, for instance, is one that has contributed significantly to the use of more polluting energy sources for cooking and high rate of deforestation in and around urban centres of the country (Adelekan and Jerome 2006). The conduct of opinion polls of such environmental issues by the press would generate critical information useful for policy. Finally, the survey showed that a significant difference exists in total number of environment reports published by the two newspapers during the study period (p , 0.01). Over the 5-year period, The Guardian was more responsive in reporting environment issues than The Daily Times. This is contrary to expectations, since the government newspaper would have been better positioned to set the agenda in environmental communication and provide environmental information to the public considering the government’s key strategy of “managing environmental information and education to generate adequate public awareness at all levels for decision making” for achieving environmental sustainability. Independent newspapers like The Guardian if well oriented therefore have great capacity to contribute to environmental communication. The current state of the Nigerian press with regard to communicating environmental information to the public can consequently be likened to what Schoenfeld (1980) described as an era of “journalism of uncertainty”. This was the era of journalism which prevailed in the USA in the 1960s and 1970s. A characteristic of this state is that environmental reporting has problem with both the substance and style of environmentalism. This is evident as difficulty in comprehending and communicating the people –resources –technology system which suggests that everything is connected to everything else, as exemplified in the inability to recognise and describe sound, fair trade-offs among energy, economy and environment (Schoenfeld et al. 1979). Acknowledgement The author is grateful to two anonymous reviewers for comments on the first draft that greatly improved the paper. The assistance of Professor Adigun Agbaje in procuring recent literature and editorial assistance of Professor J. O. Ayoade is gratefully acknowledged. Local Environment 311 Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 References Adelekan, I.O and Jerome, A.T., 2006. Dynamics of household energy consumption in a traditional African city, Ibadan. Environmentalist, 26 (2), 99–110. Agbola, T., Olurin, T., and Mabawonku, A., 1999. An appraisal of the contribution of the print and electronic media to environmental education and consciousness in Nigeria. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 56 (4), 509–530. van Apeldoorn, G.J., 1981. Perspectives on drought and famine in Nigeria. London: George Allen and Unwin, 46. Babbie, E., 2008. The basics of social research. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education, 350–361. Barbier, E.B., 1987. The concept of sustainable economic development. Environmental Conservation, 14 (2), 159–165. Bowman, J.S., 1978. American daily newspapers and the environment. The Journal of Environmental Education, 10 (1), 2–11. Bowman, J.S. and Fuchs, T., 1981. Environmental coverage in the mass media: a longitudinal study. Journal of Environmental Studies, 18 (1), 11–21. Boykoff, M.T. and Boykoff, J.M., 2004. Balance as bias: global warming and the US prestige press. Global Environmental Change, 14 (2), 125–136. Burgess, J., Harrison, C., and Maiteney, P., 1991. Contested meanings: the consumption of news about nature conservation. Media, Culture, and Society, 13 (4), 499–519. Castri, F., 1995. The chair of sustainable development. Nature and Resources, 31 (3), 2–7. Dasgupta, S., Laplante, B., and Meisner, C., 2000. Environmental news in Argentina, Chile, Mexico and the Philippines. Local Environment, 5 (3), 351–359. Dearing, J. and Rogers, E., 1992. AIDS and the media agenda. In: T. Edgar, M.A. Fitzpatrick and V.S. Freimuth, eds. AIDS: a communication perspective. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 173–194. Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), 2005. 2005 Environmental sustainability index. New Haven, Conn: Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy. Ekeanyanwu, N.T., 2007. The Nigerian press coverage of political conflicts in a pluralistic society. Global Media Journal [online], African edition. Available from: http://academic.sun.ac.za/ gmja/Aca31.htm [Accessed 2 April 2008]. Esty, D.C., et al., 2005. Environmental sustainability index: benchmarking national environmental stewardship. New Haven: Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy. Federal Government of Nigeria, 1997. Ecology and environment. Report of the Vision 2010. Abuja: Federal Government of Nigeria, 92–115. Goodland, R. and Edmundson, V., 1994. Editor’s preface. In: R. Goodland and V. Edmundson, eds. Environmental assessment and development. Washington, D.C: An IAIA-World Bank Symposium, World Bank, ix. Griffin, R. and Dunwoody, S., 1995. Impacts of information subsidies and community contamination. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 72 (2), 271–284. Hansen, A., 1991. The media and the social construction of the environment. Media, Culture and Society, 13 (4), 443–458. Hawthorne, M. and Alabaster, T., 1999. Citizen 2000: development of a model of environmental citizenship. Global Environmental Change, 9 (1), 25–43. Kalof, L., 1997. Understanding the social construction of environmental concern. Human Ecology Review, 4 (2), 101–105. Khator, R., 1991. Environment, development and politics in India. MD: University Press of America. Kurth, H., Giron, T., and Sy, M.L., 1990. Our environment needs media: the Philippine case. Philippine Foundation of Rural Broadcasters, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Manila Office. Lowe, P. and Morrison, D., 1984. Bad news or good news: environmental politics and the news media. Sociological Review, 32 (1), 75–90. McCallum, D.B., Hammond, S.L., and Covello, V.T., 1991. Communicating about environmental risks: how the public uses and perceives information sources. Health Education Quarterly, 18 (3), 349–361. McCombs, M., 2006. The agenda-setting role of the mass media in the shaping of public opinion [online]. Available from: http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/extra/McCombs.pdf [Accessed 12 February 2008]. McCombs, M.E. and Shaw, D.L., 1972. The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36 (2), 176–187. Downloaded by [Ibidun Adelekan] at 11:24 25 May 2014 312 I.O. Adelekan Mikami, S., Takeshita, T., Nakada, M., and Kawabata, M., 1995. The media coverage and public awareness of environmental issues in Japan. Gazette, 54 (3), 209–226. Munasinghe, M., 1993. Environment issues and economic decisions in developing countries. World Development, 21 (11), 1729–1748. Oepen, M., 2000. Environmental communication in a context. In: M. Oepen and W. Hamacher, eds. Communicating the environment: environmental communication for sustainable development. New York: Peter Lang, 41. Ostman, R. and Parker, J., 1987. Impact of education, age, newspapers and television on environmental knowledge, concerns and behaviours. Journal of Environmental Education, 19 (1), 3–9. Parlour, J.W., 1980. The mass media and environmental issues: a theoretical analysis. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 15 (2), 109–121. Parlour, J.W. and Schatzow, S., 1978. The mass media and public concern for environmental problems in Canada, 1960– 1972. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 13 (1), 9–17. Reddy, S., 1998. An independent press working against famine: the Nigerian experience. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 26 (2), 337–345. Schnelle, J.F., et al., 1980. Prompting behaviour change in the community: use of mass media techniques. Environment and Behaviour, 12 (2), 157–166. Schoenfeld, A.C., 1980. Assessing the environmental reportage of the Daily Press 1965–1979. Journal of Environmental Education, 11 (3), 31–35. Schoenfeld, A.C., Meier, R.F., and Griffin, R.J., 1979. Constructing a social problem: the press and the environment. Social Problems, 27 (1), 38–61. Sekar, T., 1981. Role of newspapers in creating mass concern with environmental issues in India. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 17 (2), 115–120. Ugboajah, F.O., 1980. Communication policies in Nigeria. Paris, 18. UNCED, 1992. Agenda 21. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Rio de Janeiro, 3–14 June. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2002. African environment outlook: past, present and future perspectives. Nairobi: UNEP. UNESCO, 1993. Teaching global change through environmental education. Connect: UNESCOUNEP Environmental Education Newsletter, 18, 1–4. Vieira, A.d.S., 1985. Environmental information in developing nations: politics and policies. CT: Greenwood Press. Wagner, W., 2007. Vernacular science knowledge: its role in everyday life communication. Public Understanding of Science, 16 (1), 7–22. Wallack, L., 1994. Media advocacy: a strategy for empowering people and communities. Journal of Public Health Policy, 15 (4), 420–436. Wanta, W. and Ghanem, S.I., 2006. Effects of agenda setting. In: R. Preiss, B. GayleM. , N. Burrell, M. Allen and J. Bryant, eds. Mass media theories and processes: advances through meta-analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 37–52. Wilcox, D., 1993. The guide to effective community participation. London: Partnership Books.