Attitude and Knowledge of Print Media Journalists towards

Valid knowledge is important as it predisposes journalists to report with precision, yet journalists’ behaviours need to be influenced so as to increase awareness and dissemination of climate change news. The study investigated the attitude of print media journalists towards the coverage of climate change news in Nigeria. One hundred and fifty journalists who specialized in the area of science, environment and social sciences were randomly selected from ten national dailies namely: Daily Sun, Guardian, Daily Champion, ThisDay, The Nation, The Punch, Daily Times, Daily Independent, Business Day and Vanguard newspapers and interviewed. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean scores, and multiple regression. Majority of the journalists’ perceived the Internet (M= 2.67; S.D= 0.79) as being the most important source of climate information. Majority (73.1%) of the journalists lacked training in reporting climate change issues. Majority statistics of the journalists had favourable attitude towards reporting of climate change issues. Some personal characteristics, namely, sex, training in reporting climate change issues and years in service influenced journalists’ attitudes towards coverage of climate change news. The study recommended that training of agricultural communicators should receive appropriate attention in universities in order to ensure that personnel with adequate training in agriculture and communication are not in shortfall in media organizations