Review of related literature Mass media and the Environment The mass media are known for the transmission of information to the members of the public. They are a powerful force and play a very vital role in the existence of man. Man relies on the mass media for accurate and precise reports on the happenings around him. The mass media refer collectively to all media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience through mass communication; it is further classified into eight industries: books, newspapers, magazines, recording, radio, movies, television and the Internet. The mass media are technologically developed and highly sophisticated to meet the demands of the people, not only simultaneously but also instantaneously. The environment encompasses both biophysical and socio-economic components. It is commonly associated with natural environmental components, such as rivers, forests, oceans, the atmosphere and ecosystems. It also refers to the human environment, human health and living conditions, urban and rural communities, buildings and historical places, cultural heritage, economic opportunities and work, and accessibility to the country’s natural resources (Nwabueze 2007). Everything that surrounds us, both living and non-living, forms our environment, and as such, other than through formal education, information about the environment can be effectively communicated through the mass media. Moeti et al. (2008: 139) agree that environmental information forms the crux of environmental action and that the mass media can ensure widespread distribution of environmental information and thus catalyse environmental action. However, despite the global environmental consciousness, information about environmental issues hardly reaches people through the mass media – that is, through magazines, newspapers, the radio and television (Oso 2006). Irrespective of the fact that there are a million and one issues to be discussed every day, in the editorial meetings held in the morning in media houses environmental issues are not treated as pressing issues; rather, they are placed as substitutes. Oso proffers that, The fact of the matter is that the mass media have not been giving adequate coverage to green issues in Nigeria. Mass media attention to the environment has been described as a relatively recent development in Nigeria with such other issues as business, finance, information technology, and politics receiving more priority. The mass media give haphazard coverage to environmental issues with mainly spot news reports. Nwabueze (2007: 108) notes that ‘data shows that the Nigeria mass media have not been doing well in the coverage of the environment, with specific reference to environmental pollution in the Niger Delta region which seems to dominate environmental agenda in Nigeria’. Ashong and Udoudo (2006: 12) observe that the media have not done well in the coverage of pollution in the region, especially in terms of empathizing with and expressing the views of the local communities hit by the pollution. Nwabueze (2005) also found in another study that the Nigerian press does not give adequate coverage to erosion problems in the south-east region, unarguably the most hit by erosion in the nation. After a study of selected national newspapers in 2004, it was discovered that one of the papers did not carry a single story on erosion in the south-east zone throughout the selected year that was studied. This was when some buildings in some communities in Anambra state were being swallowed by erosion. Olatunji (2004), after a study on print media coverage of World Environment Day (WED) activities, reveals that from 2000 to 2004 dominant issues that often received attention were environmental awareness, water pollution and sea/ocean pollution. ‘However, little or no attention was paid to other equally critical environmental problems such as unsustainable practices of natural resources, exploitation, conservation, air pollution, flooding, erosion, deforestation/desertification and urban waste management’ (Olatunji 2004: 17). On the basis of these findings it has been ascertained that environmental reporting has yet to be seen as a specialized aspect of journalism worthy of priority attention. This is a worrisome development because the mass media shape social norms and value systems and also influence people’s decision-making in ways that foster a more environmentally sustainable and acceptable society (Nwabueze 2011: 110). This goes to say that, with regard to the potency of media messages, an environmentally friendly culture can be imparted to or inculcated in the people if only the media would take environmental reporting seriously. Ayantayo (2004: 6) notes that, ‘the media as communication units have an important role to play in environmental education, conservatism, and sustainable development’. If a business reporter can fish out a story from the Boko Haram violence, how much more can an environmental report