UN funds alarmist TV show?

ABS-CBN News Online (Beta)

Ros Sothea is racing against time. The 24-year old producer of "Climate Change Talk," the first show to bring climate-change issues to rural folk in Cambodia, has to secure additional funds in the soonest time or the network would pull the plug on her show.

"My boss believes in the show," she said, "but he’s not getting money from it."

Only on its six month-run, "Climate Change Talk" started with financial backing from the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Development Program.

While the two donors pledged to fund her show for more than a year, Ros said it wasn’t enough. They still need advertisements.

Currently, "Climate Change Talk" gets support from three advertisers – Unilever, Procter and Gamble and a Chinese manufacturing company. While these corporations are considered heavyweights in the industry, Ros said three advertisers are not enough for her program, whose production costs around $10,000 a month.

Ros’s situation, however, is not just another sad tale of a show that is about to go down the drain because it cannot rake in revenues. Her problem mirrors the struggle of journalists to acquire media space and ample exposure for climate change, a phenomenon that is globally described as the "biggest threat [to the world] in the 21st century."
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He suggested the following ways of making climate change sexy:
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- Use "charismatic" flora and fauna. The polar bear became the symbol for action against global warming because its extinction struck a chord among environmentalists, animal lovers and even children.
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- Businessmen listen to the message when there’s promise of money. Discuss how climate change has opened investment and business opportunities to manufacture "green" products and develop green technologies.