Public Perceptions on Media Coverage on Waste Management in Buea and Douala IV Municipalities

This study set out to appraise public perceptions on waste management in Buea and Douala IV municipalities in the Southwest and Littoral Regions of Cameroon. The study was supported by the Agenda Setting Theory 1972 by McCombs and Shaw, Knowledge Gap Theory 1970 by Philip Tichenor, George Donohue and Claire Olien, and the Transtheoretical Model also called the Stages of Change Model developed by Prochaska and Diclemente, 1970 . It employed a concurrent nested mixed method combining quantitative and qualitative approaches in a survey design. The estimated sample size comprised of 415 community members involved in the study conveniently. The study was stratified between French and English speaking Cameroon. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed based on frequency and proportions. It was generally perceived by community members in both Buea and Douala IV municipalities that media have played a role in creating public awareness on issues concerning waste management with proportions of 74.8 169 and 76.9 336 respectively. Cumulatively, 70.1 perceived that media have contributed in raising public awareness on issues concerning waste management to a very large or large extent and this trend was almost the same between Buea and Douala IV municipality. The adequacy of this action was however nuanced as roughly the majority of 52.9 231 perceived this awareness creation mechanism to be very adequate and this trend was the same in Buea and Douala IV municipalities. Television was the most recommended and the use of diversified languages notably literary and vernacular languages was perceived as major asset to information outreach. The time or period of broadcast was fairly satisfactory. It was recommended that the role of media to enhance public awareness on waste management to be sustained with particular focus of television while adjusting the broadcasting time. Agbor Vivan Ada | Mpoche Kizitus Nformi | Atenga Thomas Ireneé | Nana Célestin "Public Perceptions on Media Coverage on Waste Management in Buea and Douala IV Municipalities" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-10 | Issue-1 , February 2026, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd100088.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/journalism/100088/public-perceptions-on-media-coverage-on-waste-management-in-buea-and-douala-iv-municipalities/agbor-vivan-ada