Industry News for 2011

Search on for ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity awards

  The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Center for Biodiversity (ACB) is urging media organizations campaigning for biodiversity conservation to submit nominations for the ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity awards by its 28 February deadline, the Manila Bulletin reports.

The regional search for the ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity was launched by ACB in partnership with the ASEAN Foundation, the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication, the European Union, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and UNESCO. recognize and honor exemplary biodiversity conservationists and advocates.

The award seeks to identify leaders from among the media, the private/corporate sector and youth organisations from which a cadre of champions will be selected to serve as ‘Ambassadors of Goodwill’ for biodiversity.

The role of the ambassadors will be to promote awareness of the values of biodiversity among ASEAN leaders and the public in general; promote corporate social responsibility in biodiversity conservation and advocacy; and encourage the media, private sector and youth to participate in biodiversity conservation and advocacy.

Nominations are open for three categories namely: Most Outstanding Biodiversity Reportage by a Media Organization; Most Outstanding Biodiversity Conservation and/or Advocacy Project by a Private Business/Corporation; Most Outstanding Biodiversity Conservation and/or Advocacy Project by a Youth Organization.

ACB executive director Rodrigo Fuentes said the contest seeks to generate greater leadership, public and media awareness of the problems facing the region's rich but highly threatened biodiversity.

Winners will receive a cash prize of US$5,000 each, and will be recognized in an awarding ceremony and forum to be held in the Philippines on 22 May 2011, which is also the International Day for Biodiversity.

Earth Hour launches new video PSA for 2011 campaign

The global ‘lights off’ campaign, Earth Hour, has launched a new public service advertisement (PSA) for this year’s event on 26 March which calls for people to go ‘beyond the hour’ and take action in their daily lives to do more for the planet.

The video PSA features a series of images, each demonstrating a different example of a positive action. A cast of 100 volunteers used their bodies to suspend individual ‘pixels’ that together create the images for the ad.

The concept for the PSA was developed by Leo Burnett and follows the recent introduction of a new Earth Hour logo featuring a plus sign after the ‘60’ – a change that symbolizes a shift in the Earth Hour message this year - that everyone has the power to do more beyond the hour.

“Leo Burnett has been proudly involved in the Earth Hour movement since its inception,” said the agency’s SVP Content Architect, Vince Geraghty. “The beauty of this campaign is that it sticks to the simplicity of the Earth Hour message, whilst allowing people to think about what else they can do, in their everyday lives, to extend their action beyond that hour.”

Earth Hour is a global initiative in partnership with WWF. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn off their lights for one hour on Saturday 26 March at 8.30 PM to show their support for environmentally sustainable action. The campaign started in Australia in 2007 through a partnership between WWF Australia, Leo Burnett and Fairfax Media, when two million people in Sydney switched off their lights.

Earth Hour co-founder Andy Ridley said: “Earth Hour has grown exponentially year on year. We have been overwhelmed by the power of individuals and communities to come together and send a powerful message by switching off the lights. Just imagine what we could achieve if we take this beyond the hour.”

MTV launches next phase of anti-trafficking campaign

A music video produced through a collaboration between music collective, Black Iris, indie rock band Best Coast’s lead, Bethany Cosentino, and ad agency Young & Rubicam, will drive the launch of a new phase of MTV’s EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign.

The music video, titled When Will I Feel Love, highlights the dangers and impact of trafficking for sexual exploitation, particularly of young women. The music video will premiere across MTV properties on-air and online on 14 February 2011, and will be available to download on iTunes from 15 February. Proceeds from iTunes sales will be directed to anti-trafficking organisations working to rescue and rehabilitate victims of human trafficking.

This extension to the MTV EXIT campaign in Asia will feature a new series of on-air programs, live events, digital content, and marketing campaigns aimed at increasing knowledge as well as positively impacting attitudes and behaviour in regard to human trafficking and exploitation.

With an increased focus on localization, MTV EXIT will continue using the power and influence of music and film to effectively reach and educate audiences about modern-day slavery. In 2011, a new series of 12 documentary films, hosted by local and international celebrities, will premiere across the Asia-Pacific region featuring stories of real people caught up in the web of human trafficking.

The campaign will have a particular focus on four countries in the region with high prevalence of human trafficking. Throughout 2011 and 2012, national advocacy campaigns will be launched in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. These will include the production of live concerts, youth forums, dedicated local programming and marketing initiatives.

“Human trafficking, especially of young women for sexual exploitation, is a crime which violates basic human rights: rights to freedom, equality and dignity. MTV’s unique global network can support and promote these rights. Through this partnership with USAID we are incredibly proud to be solidifying our commitment to combatting this cruel trade in human beings,” said Georgia Arnold, Senior Vice President, Social Responsibility, MTV Networks International.

MTV EXIT television programming is produced rights-free and is made available free of charge to all broadcasters and organisations.

Indonesian children learn important messages from TV show

Children exposed to Jalan Sesama, an Indonesian version of US children’s television show Sesame Street, had improved educational skills and healthy development, according to a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Over a 14-week period, the children who had the greatest exposure to Jalan Sesama improved significantly in literacy, mathematics, early cognitive skills, safety knowledge and social awareness, compared to those with no or low exposure to the program.

“I was amazed with how much television young children in Indonesia watch,” said Dina L.G. Borzekowski, the study’s lead author and an associate professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Health, Behavior and Society, The JHU Gazette reported.

“Mostly the shows children were seeing were of adult nature or dubbed episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants and Scooby-Doo,” she said. “In contrast, Jalan Sesama was created in Indonesia for Indonesian children.

With this study, we present evidence that when a culturally and age-appropriate show is offered, it can change the lives of pre-schoolers. Our data showed that 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds learned important and healthy messages.”

Jalan Sesama is produced by the Sesame Workshop with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The program uses live action, puppetry (traditional and new) and animation to deliver lessons on literacy, mathematics, safety, culture, the environment and other subjects.

New health media awareness prizes for Gulf region awarded in Doha

Winners of the first health media awareness awards in the Gulf region were announced in Doha, Qatar, yesterday during the 70th Conference of the Gulf Cooperation States (GCC) Health Ministers’ Council, The Peninsula newspaper reports.

The new awards, with total prize money of more than US$50,000, are part of the Gulf Excellence Awards program and sponsored by Saudi-based Dar Al-Mahalliya Public Affairs.

The awards aim to promote innovation and creativity among those working in health awareness and media sectors, attract government and private media institutions to participate in producing health awareness materials, and highlight the efforts and initiatives of the individuals and institutions working in this area.

“Media play a significant role in highlighting the efforts and revealing the defects for the national decision makers in the health sector. The works carried out in the health sector need to be closely followed by media,” Dr Fahad Al Tayash, Chairman of Dar Al Mahalliya Public Affairs said.

He added that his organization wanted to highlight and popularise the efforts of health and media professionals working in this area in the GCC States.

Awards were made for TV and radio works, press articles, web pages, e-works, short stories and awareness posters.

New campaign to raise awareness of cancer prevention

‘Cancer can be prevented’ is the theme of a new awareness campaign being launched today in the lead up to this year's World Cancer Day on 4 February, by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).

The campaign is backed by a new scientific report titled 'Protection against cancer causing infections' which focuses on the nine infections that can lead to cancer.

"Of the 12 million people who are diagnosed with cancer each year around 20% of cases can be attributed to viral and bacterial infections that either directly cause or increase the risk of cancer," said Professor David Hill, UICC President.

"For this reason the UICC, with over 300 member organizations in more than 100 countries will focus this year's World Cancer Day campaign on increasing awareness of the contribution of infections to the global cancer burden."

The UICC will launch a new website for World Cancer Day 2011 which will include contacts for media interviews, a press kit and video clips to assist media organisations in developing their own awareness campaigns.

The website will also contain samples of the best campaigns from around the world with the objective of inspiring the media to undertake more advocacy activity.

Media urged to be more proactive on disaster risk reduction

The media can play an important role in changing the world from a culture of reacting to disasters to a culture of helping to prevent disasters, the Head of Communications for the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), Brigitte Leoni, says.

Ms Leoni was reacting to the release of annual statistics by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters which showed that in 2010 some 373 natural disasters killed over 296,800 people.

The report indicated that over 200 million other people were affected by the disasters which cost nearly US$110 billion.

"Reporters make a real difference in the way people think and act, especially now when climate change is recognized as a major challenge that will aggravate our vulnerability to disasters,” Ms Leoni said.

“UNISDR works closely with many journalists in the region to explore the root causes of disasters and their social dimensions to help communities and countries understand what it is that makes them vulnerable, and what they can do to increase their capacities to cope with disasters.

“Everyday we have more journalists calling us and interested in knowing more on disaster risk reduction issues which is very encouraging as media is a key partner in changing the world from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention."

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, said that the 2010 figures were bad, “but could be seen as benign in years to come.”

“Unless we act now, we will see more and more disasters due to unplanned urbanization and environmental degradation. And weather-related disasters are sure to rise in the future, due to factors that include climate change,” she explained.

Media registration now open for ADB's 2011 annual meeting

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has opened media registration for its 44^th annual meeting to be held 3-6 May 2011 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The event will be held in the capital's National Convention Center, and online registration will remain open until 16 April.

Some 3,000 participants, including government leaders, central bank governors and finance ministers, as well as representatives from the private sector, academe, media and civil society are expected to attend the event. Attendance is by invitation only.

Invitations have been sent to media participants who are asked to register as soon as possible. Members of the media who have not received an invitation but would like to attend the meeting can apply for accreditation at:http://www.adb.org/AnnualMeeting/2011/contact2.asp or by e-mail toammedia@adb.org

The 2011 annual meeting will focus on investment in Vietnam, regional integration, infrastructure development and protecting the poorest through private sector growth. A major focus of the meeting will be a discussion on what Asia needs to do to drive transformation, manage risks and sustain its success through 2050.

Accredited media are invited to cover all major annual meeting events, including seminars. Information on media facilities at the annual meeting, is available at: http://www.adb.org/AnnualMeeting/2011/invitation-media.asp