The pattern of reporting on environmental issues in The Namibian print media

Abstract

Abstract provided by author:

The research will focus on the patterns of reporting in the two dailies, The Namibian and New Era. This is because the Namibian newspapers do not seem to focus enough on news that has to do with the environment. The news on the environment only feature once or twice a week in the daily press. Environmental issues should instead be taking center stage in the media world. This is because recently this issue has become very topical worldwide; this is because of the newfound global awareness on the vulnerability of the environment. It is also a topical issue because people are trying to come up with ways in which they can make the environment more sustainable. This research aims to determine the patterns of press coverage on environmental issues and hence identify the constraints that maybe hindering the newspapers from including these issues in their reporting. The research will take place by means of a content analysis of the two dailies and through interviews of the editors of the two papers to try and find out the reasons they have for not publishing stories on environmental issues more often. The research will take place over a period of one month

The key findings showed that the press in Namibia is more interested in other issues that deal with society than they are about writing about the environment. The press if they write about the environment they choose to write about the Community Based Natural Resource Management