Newspaper framing and climate change mitigation in Nigeria and Ghana

Abstract

Background: The issue of climate change is a global one yet there exist little literature on African media coverage of climate change, even as developing nations are the worst hit by its effects. Objectives: This study compared the influence of newspaper framing on climate change mitigation in Nigeria and Ghana. It also assessed challenges editors’ face in reporting climate change. Methods: The contents of eight national newspapers for both countries were analysed and the news editors of the sampled newspapers were interviewed. Results: Findings showed that the issue of climate change was given less coverage and the dominant frame used in the Nigerian newspapers was the action frame, and environment frame for the Ghanaian newspapers, with floods as the prominent climate change issue reported in both countries. Factors identified include funding, the technicality of reporting climate change, none documentation and lack of expertise. Conclusion: There is also need for editors to look for ways in making climate change reports more interesting.