Translating the global climate change challenge into action as reflected in Uganda’s media

Abstract

Climate change is a global risk that has affected all countries, which requires both global and national action. From the domain of scientists, who initially dominated climate debates, climate change has now become a public issue, with politicians increasingly influencing decisions on climate action, thus climate change becoming a highly politicized media topic. Given that media focus on key issues in society, this article examines the positioning of climate change in Uganda’s media as a means of gauging the level of political commitment to translate this global challenge into climate action. Premised within the issue-attention conceptual framework and based on the findings from the analysis of print media coverage in Uganda of the COP21 global summit, the article shows that climate change is not just a local national issue but is inexplicably linked to global frameworks, where voices and actors from the North not only dominate the global climate discourse but also transcend to the national level as reflected in the coverage, with most of the climate news being from foreign sources and foreign political leaders. Journalists are urged to pre-empt the local politicians to be active participants, not passive listeners in the global climate debates, such that climate issues become high on Uganda’s political communication agenda.