Industry News for 2010

New media are changing consumer habits, says Asia PR chief

Different forms of new media have begun to reshape consumer habits, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly reflecting a corporation's performance in the Web 2.0 era, the Chairman of Ruder Finn Asia, Jean-Michel Dumont, has told a forum in Beijing, China.

He was speaking at a ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Leadership Initiative' forum which was held at the Tsinghua University, co-hosted by the university‘s School of Journalism and Communication and Ruder Finn Asia.

“CSR is entering a new and more global 2.0 era where there is more concern for transparency, constant feedbacks and communications and more participation of various stakeholders,” Mr Dumont said.

“In addition, more NGOs are mobilizing the general public to pay attention and participate in a variety of public activities through new media. Enterprises must adapt to these changes and the new media environment and never stop building an innovative CSR model,” he added.

The forum, part of a five-year cooperation program between Ruder Finn Asia and Tsinghua University which commenced in 2008, was attended by 60 senior delegates from CSR academic institutions, NGOs and well known Chinese and international companies.

Ruder Finn Asia is part of the Ruder Finn Group, one of the largest independent public relations firms in the United States. It has a dedicated team focused on developing CSR initiatives for multi-national companies in Asia.

Extra screening slots for MTV EXIT programs in Southeast Asia

MTV Networks Asia Pacific has announced that several terrestrial broadcasters in the region will be screening additional MTV EXIT programming in December to help raise greater awareness of human trafficking.

The MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign is an award-winning multi-media initiative to raise awareness and increase prevention of exploitation and human trafficking. MTV EXIT was launched in Europe in 2004, and expanded across Asia with assistance from USAID in 2007.

To date MTV EXIT has produced three documentaries, two music videos and 10 public service announcements (PSAs) for Asian markets.

Indonesia's Global TV will screen on 12 December a 30 minute special of MTV EXIT Live in Jakarta and an animated drama, 'Intersection'.

On 17 December, Cambodia's CTN will screen a Khmer version of the documentary 'Traffic' which is hosted by Lucy Liu and features interviews with victims in the trafficking chain./p>

The animated drama 'Intersection' will be screened in Vientiane on 18 December as part of the Laos Youth Union Anti-Trafficking Day activities.

Bangladesh health experts call for new awareness campaign

Nutrition experts blame poor feeding practices due to lack of awareness as a major cause of malnutrition of children in Bangladesh, and have called for launching "a massive awareness campaign" to motivate parents to provide nutritious food to their children, the New Age newspaper reports.

“People in Bangladesh generally have no idea of how to make balanced food for their children at home,” said S. K. Roy, senior scientist at the clinical science division of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Dhaka.

He said malnourished girls grow up only to give birth to small and underweight babies continuing the cycle of under nourishment and poverty.

Abeed Hossain Mollah, head of neonatal medicine at Dhaka Medical College Hospital said that due to lack of awareness about balanced diet, many mothers give only carbohydrates to their babies.

“Even the families who can afford do not provide their babies balanced food due to sheer lack awareness,” he said.

According to Khushid Ttalukder, a paediatrician and research coordinator at the Savar based Centre for Women and Child Health, about 240 babies below five years of age die every day in the country because of malnutrition, and around 110 newborn die each day for not getting breast milk within one hour of birth.

ADB launches its second Asia-Pacific video competition

Climate change, increased water use in farms and industries, and rising urbanization are putting a huge strain on Asia’s shrinking water resources, the ADB says.

“With 60% of the world's population, Asia is at the forefront of the world’s water problems, and solutions,” said Ann Quon, Principal Director of ADB’s Department of External Relations. “We were so encouraged by the response to the first My View competition on climate change, that we want to encourage even more creative minds to produce innovative videos that will put this important issue front and center.”

Over US$10,000 worth of prizes are being offered in three categories for the best videos about water issues in the Asia and Pacific region. Citizens of any one of ADB's 67 member countries are eligible to participate.

The deadline for submission of entries is 31 January 2011.

AsiaSat staff support Ocean Conservancy beach clean-up day

Over 50 staff of AsiaSat Telecommunications and their families helped clean-up Hong Kong's Shek O beach last weekend in support of the Ocean Conservancy annual coastal clean-up program to help protect the ocean and waterways.

The coastal clean-up is part of a worldwide movement to reduce ocean pollution. This year's clean-up marked the 25^th anniversary of the world’s largest volunteer effort to collect marine debris from the oceans.

Ocean Conservancy today works towards global solutions through the cumulative efforts of half-a-million volunteers around the world.

AsiaSat staff they were proud to contribute to protecting the environment and to arouse awareness of marine protection.

On 28 September, AsiaSat staff also participated in the annual Dress Special Day organised by the Community Chest in Hong Kong.

AsiaSat staff as well as the company contributed funds to support the underprivileged in Hong Kong. Funds raised were allocated to social welfare agencies supported by the Chest.

CSR Asia annual summit in Hong Kong achieves record attendance

Over 400 corporate social responsibility (CSR) professionals from around the world gathered at the CSR Asia Summit 2010, which concluded in Hong Kong today, to exchange views on key CSR issues and strategies in the Asia-Pacific region.

The two-day conference, which broke previous attendance records, featured 58 international speakers and 29 panels addressing issues such as carbon disclosure, business strategies for adapting to a changing climate, and the relationship between CSR and corporate governance.

A spokesman for the organisers, CSR Asia Ltd, said he believed that the record attendance reflected an increasing demand for CSR knowledge.

“Investors nowadays are increasingly looking for companies that are managing environmental, governance and social risks properly, making CSR one of the indispensable core values and a unique differentiator of a successful company,” he said.

The 2011 CSR Asia Summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, next year.

Workshop calls for database to assist climate change reporting

The establishment of a database that is easily accessible to journalists where they can identify reliable and relevant news and data on climate change was one of the key recommendations of a media and development workshop held in Munich, Germany today.

It explored how partnerships with international development agencies and companies with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives can affect issues such as climate change by encouraging mass audience awareness of ‘green’ consumption.

The workshop was held within the framework of the 2010 Asia-Europe Environment Forum.

It included a panel of professionals who demonstrated the use of media relationships and tools for advocacy, awareness and behaviour change in accomplishing sustainable development and the fulfilment of private sector CSR initiatives.

The workshop recommended that efforts be intensified to develop climate change training workshops - not limited to journalists, but also for editors and gatekeepers – and to encourage the use of information communication technology and social networking platforms in communicating climate change.

Other recommendations included the incorporation of ideas and talent from advertising agencies to create high-end quality media products targeting all level of audiences, and the promotion of multi-stakeholder partnerships (media companies, creative agencies, international/donor agencies, private sectors) to mount public awareness campaigns to educate audiences and change attitudes and behaviour on sustainable consumption.

The workshop was organised by The Media Alliance, the Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia and Deutsche Welle to examine the roles of the media, entertainment and creative industries in educating audiences about climate change and creating demand for green consumption and production.

Power company's online game to create green awareness

A Hong Kong based power generation company, CLP Holdings, is promoting the planting of virtual trees through an online game to raise awareness about the role that trees play in managing water resources and combating climate change.

Through CLP's 'Green Park' game, for every virtual tree that is planted, HK$5 will be donated to green projects being implemented by partner organizations in Hong Kong, mainland China, Australia, India and Thailand. The company has set a target of 100,000 virtual trees.

“Tackling the climate change problem is at the heart of CLP’s green initiatives. Green Park is unique in the way it reaches out to a diverse demographic in Asia, using an online gaming platform,” said Andrew Brandler, CEO of CLP Holdings.

“We hope that thousands of people from these markets will sign up for the game and support projects that contribute to the preservation of biodiversity.”

CLP’s partners for this initiative in the five markets are The Conservancy Association in Hong Kong, the Forestry Administration of Guangdong Province in mainland China, the Conservation Volunteers in Australia, the Mangrove Forest Development Station 6 (Petchburi) in Thailand, and the Centre for Environmental Education in India.

The game will also raise money for 'real life' environmental projects. Donations will be used to fund green education programmes, including real tree planting. The programmes will form part of CLP’s regional tree planting programme launched in April 2008 which is aimed at planting a million trees in their operational zone within five years.

ILO offers video material for child labour day coverage

Broadcast quality video material on child labour in different regions of the world is being offered to broadcasters by the International Labour Organization in preparation for the annual World Day against Child Labour on 12 June.

This year's event will put the spotlight on the need for urgent national and international steps to accelerate action against child labour. Coinciding with the opening of the football world cup, the theme for this year's World Day is “Go for the goal - end child labour”.

The goal of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016 was the major focus of a recent Global Conference against Child Labour held in The Hague.

World Day events will be held in more than 60 countries. Events will involve governments, employers and workers, other UN organizations and non-governmental organizations, high level panels, media events, awareness raising campaigns, cultural performances and other public events. In keeping with this year's theme, many events will have a football focus.

Broadcasters requiring material to assist in the preparation of news reports and other programs should contact the ILO's Department of Communication, Radio and TV unit, at tv_radio@ilo.org

Road safety campaign ambassador calls for new solutions

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the ambassador for the 'Make Roads Safe' campaign, Michelle Yeoh, on Wednesday jointly called for governments to support transport solutions that will reduce the high rate of deaths and injury caused by road accidents in the Asia and Pacific region.

In her role as ambassador for the global road safty campaign, Ms Yeoh, an award-winning actress, advocates for road injury to be recognized as a global public health and development priority.

She was at ADB headquarters in Manila to participate in a three-day transport forum at which leading experts from around the world are discussing crucial issues facing transport in Asia and the Pacific.

“The Asia and the Pacific region is facing an epidemic of road death and injury, but we also have innovative Asian road safety solutions such as the International Road Assessment Programme, which is transforming the way we understand safe road design, and the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative," Ms. Yeoh said. "There is so much we can do to save lives on our roads."

"Every year some 1.18 million people globally are victims of fatal road accidents, and 60% of all road accidents occur here in Asia and the Pacific," said ADB's Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, Ursula Schaefer-Preuss.

"Equally notable is how this issue impacts the poor, who suffer gravely from unsafe roads, while remaining marginalized by transport policies that are biased in favor of private vehicles," she added.