The Contribution of Mass Media on Environmental Management in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

Abstract

The contribution of mass media on environment management in any given society cannot be undermined; the mass media generally, can be used to enhance cognizance and alter bad individual behavior and attitudes in relation to environment management, and hence bring about positive change in the process of environment management. Thus, this article examines the contribution of mass media on environmental management in Dar es salam city, Tanzania. It explores the major social-environmental problems facing Dar es salaam city, and the reasons making Dar es Salaam city among the dirtiest region in Africa. It also establishes respondent's level of understanding on the concept of environment management, and journalists' knowledge on their profession as well as on the complexities of environmental issues. The article also identifies TV and radio programmes that addresses environmental issues, the frequencies of the coverage of environmental issues in the newspapers, and compares the media coverage on environment and other issues in Tanzania. The article further determines the relationship between journalists and environment stakeholders in Tanzania and presents feasible solutions to the problem of poor environment management in Dar es Salaam city.  

This paper discovered that, Dar es Salaam city does not receive environment management attention it deserves; subsequently it remains one of the dirtiest city in Africa to date. The article identified the contribution of mass media on environmental management in Dar es Salaam City. Mass media is divided into two folds whereby on one hand is electronic broadcasting media, in particular TV and radio contributes significantly on environmental management in the country as they have exclusive programmes on environment which includes "Nitunze” i.e. Care for me aired by TBC, "Mazingira yetu” i.e. Our environment, and "Mazingira ni uhai” i.e. Environment is life” aired by Star TV, "Mazingira club” i.e. Environment club, "Ripoti maalum” i.e. Special report, and "Usafi na mazingira” i.e. Environmental sanitation all aired by ITV; and "Kambi popote” i.e. Camping anywhere aired by Clouds TV. Radio programmes include "Mazingira ni uhai” i.e. Environment is life aired by TBC Taifa; "Tutunze mazingira yetu” i.e. Let's care for our environment aired by Magic FM, and "Nitunze nikutunze” i.e. Care for me so that I care for you aired by TBC FM. On the other hand, the contribution of newspapers is very minimal as they do not have environment agenda in their editorial policy hence they report environmental issues by chance. Thus, it proposes that newspapers should entrench environmental management agenda into their editorial policy in order to intensify environment management campaign in Dar es Salaam City. TV and radio should continue producing and airing programmes on environment but with additional programmes exclusively designed for Dar es Salaam city with more appealing formats so as to attract more audience.