The Space of Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kenyan Media: an Analysis of Daily Nation and the Standard Newspapers

Abstract

This study sought to investigate how Kenya’s print media cover Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which is international forum that discusses climate issues annually. The study is anchored on the agenda setting theory. The study was conducted through content analysis of Daily Nation and The Standard. The sampling frame was individual issues in the two newspapers for the period of the study, amounting to 130 days translating to 260 issues from the two dailies. A sample of 223 stories was selected from the target population. The study objectives included finding out the frequency of reporting, the prominence given to the stories and the sourcing of the stories, and the perspective reflected in the stories. Data was obtained from the libraries of the two dailies and coded to allow for analysis. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and narratives. The study found out that on average less than one story was reported from Conference of Parties per day, except when there were dedicated pages for the event. Few stories made it as page leads, constituting only 27 per cent, while foreign sources dominated at 65 per cent over local sources in the stories. The stories also reflected mostly the foreign perspectives at 69 per cent which had no relevance to local audience. The conclusion is that the coverage might not influence agenda setting of climate change issues. The study recommended that the print media improve on the coverage of Conference of Parties to enhance public understanding and set the agenda for appriopriate public and policy makers response to the issue.