Understanding Climate Change through Digital Media: A Household Survey in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

There has been a shift in a climate communication scholarship that used to ask whether audiences are reached by climate information to whether they can be reached through trusted channels, and whether that leads to a real understanding of climate risk. The present article is based on a cross-sectional survey of 499 respondents in the settlement strata of District Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan, to explore the sources, trust and understanding of information regarding climate change among a predominantly young urban and lower to middle class population. Overall, the study reveals that digital and social media are now the primary media sources for climate information (reported by the highest percentage of respondents), with TV and radio plus people being the next most common source. Even so, research institutes and peer-reviewed journals were still the most trusted source of climate information, showing that there is a “structural disconnect” between the delivery of climate information and what people deem credible. Climate literacy was moderate to high, with 45.2% having a clear understanding of climate change; the respondents most easily linked climate change to the noticeable, local impacts on weather (unpredictable rainfall, floods and heatwaves) rather than the slower processes of global change. The average agreement was also mild to moderate (M = 3.93, SD = 0.78 on a 5-point scale) with regard to the relevance of the climate information received to daily life. The findings are analyzed from the perspective of Development Support Communication (DSC) theory, which separates awareness creation from developmental transformation and are used to conclude that it is not only reach that makes the media legitimate, but the scientific and institutional actors must also have the presence on social platforms, which are already being used by audiences.