Coverage of climate change : graduate students’ climate change policy awareness and assessment of Ghanaian media

Abstract

Ghana's recognition of the adverse effects of climate change has compelled the government to put in place a National Climate Change Policy (NCCP), while highlighting the critical role of communication. In the light of this, the study attempts to establish what audience members (graduate students) perceive of how the media are taking up the role of providing the needed information on climate change. Results showed that there is high exposure to television and radio among this audience and the dominant source of climate change information is television. More respondents were aware of global policies and initiatives on climate change than national or local policies. Respondents also have a rather negative perception about the extent to which Ghanaian legacy media are communicating climate change. Respondents expect the media to give maximum attention to climate change communication. The top-three topics they want from climate change communication in the media are: effects of climate change; how to prevent climate change; and how to deal with effects of climate change.