ROLES OF MEDIA IN CREATING AWARENESS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE IN DIRE DAWA ADMINISTRATION, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

This research was conducted with the objective of assessing roles of media in creating awareness about climate change in Dire Dawa Administration. Survey was conducted with 399 respondents and five key informant interviews. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentage, frequency distribution and mean through the use of SPSS version 24 software, and inferential statistics mainly ordinal logistic regression analysis was conducted. The qualitative data was analyzed manually through careful interpretation of meanings and pattern matching, and finally the qualitative and quantitative data was integrated in accordance to the objective of the study. The findings reveals that a considerable portion of the public may struggle to comprehend the media reports. The finding also highlights the role of media outlets in bridging the gap between complex scientific information and public understanding, emphasizing the necessity for clear, accurate, and engaging communication strategies. The finding of this study shows that media organizations should take prominent responsibility in shaping public awareness and driving action on climate change. The findings of this study also identified difficulty in communicating complex scientific concepts to the general public, limited scientific knowledge among journalists, lack of climate change related trained professional working in media environment and limited space or air time given for climate change as a major challenges medias are facing in creating awareness about climate change. According to the result obtained from ordinal logistic regression model, education status, TV and newspaper utilization, the quality and credibility of media report, satisfaction level, media informativeness, inclusion of indigenous knowledge, encouraging public engagement, and addressing long-term implications have highly significant association with media‟s role in creating awareness. This study recommended the existence of collaboration with scientific experts and prioritizing media coverage on climate change to enhance media‟s role in creating awareness about climate change.