16 September 2010
We are delighted to announce a high quality and truly international set of short listed entries for the People’s Choice category at the 2010 AIBs.
The “Best Coverage of Climate Change” award will be decided by online voting between:
• “Going Green – The Climate Summit” from CNN International
• “Low Impact Man” from VRT, Belgium
• “Earth Rescue Operation” from Phoenix Satellite Television in Hong Kong, China
• “Hard Talk on the Road to Greenland” from the BBC
• “Ross Kemp: Battle for the Amazon” from Sky Television
• “21st Century” from the UN
The full press release can be seen here
3 September 2010
After recently watching a lot of TV programmes on climate change (for the shortlist for the People’s Choice which will be revealed next week, with AIB members and those registered to vote the first to hear) and reading lots of articles about it, I have been wondering how people will make the changes to their habits that seem to be becoming more and more inevitable.
Will governments (multi-party democraties or others) impose top down changes to industry and consumption that are necessary for sustainable development? Or will concerned individuals persuade others and change behaviour from the bottom up.
The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection is drawing up plans to speed up the closure of old inefficient coal power stations (see www.grist.org/article/2010-08-30-attention-congress-china-is-shutting-down-old-coal-plants/ for more coverage). But I was interested to read in Jonathan Watts’ book “When a Billion Chinese Jump” how the central authority in China does not seem able to impose as much control as we in the West might assume.
Also if, as expected, the Democrats in the US are soundly beaten in the elections later this year, then the US government is even less likely to take strong measures that support environmental concerns. So any moves from the US in the future look likely to result from the actions of individuals and concerned groups.
Maybe, in the end, it will be simple economics rather than bottom up or top down that will bring about changes. With increasing pressures on resources increased by changes in the climate, costs of food, transportation and most resources will increase so we will be forced by our wallets to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. But that would be business as usual… would that work?
23 August 2010
AIB is proud to present its climate change portal, developed with technology from UltraKnowledge. It automatically pulls in updates from news sites and blogs across the web, tags them and then cross-links them, providing a fantastic resource for those interested in climate change to check the latest news and opinions, and to cross-check the stories across multiple sources.
As you can see from the screenshots, the portal also provides a wall of images from the posted stories, which gives viewers a new visual way of browsing through and finding items of interest. Although the portal has only just been developed, it already contains (and has tags for) thousands of articles and posts, with hundreds more being added every day.
We will be using the portal to attract those interested in the debate on climate change, who will find it an invaluable resource. Also, we will be advertising the People’s Choice award and the vote for the “Best Coverage of Climate Change” at the 2010 AIBs, and so attracting many voters.
Full details of the portal can be found in the press release.
As a non-profit organisation, the AIB is looking for a partner to help pay for the development of this portal. It provides a great opportunity for a brand to associate itself with climate change issues and ensuring that the debate is as open and informed as possible. The portal technology can also be used to automatically pull in, cross-tag and present any type of content in innovative ways – not just text, but also images, audio and video. It therefore has enormous potential for broadcasters and programme rights holders looking to make best use of their archives. Anyone interested in these opportunities should contact roger.stone@aib.org.uk
9 August 2010
We are delighted to announce that have received a record number of entries for the 2010 AIBs with many coming from broadcasters and independent producers who are entering for the first time. There is a good spread across most categories. In particular we are very pleased at the number of entries for our two new categories with 15 entries for the “Best children’s factual programme/series” and 10 for the “Best coverage of climate change”.
Over the next month, we will be examining in more detail the way broadcasting is dealing with climate change as we prepare for the People’s Choice vote of our shortlist in this category
25 June 2010
The AIB is proud to announce that the judges announced today for the 2010 AIBs come from 18 countries in 5 different continents, reinforcing the truly international character of the awards. The 29 judges will be working hard and independently of any commercial interest. Over the summer they will assess the shortlisted entries in fifteen different categories, from single news events to cross-media productions, from the new children’s factual programming award to best creative feature, and from creative marketing strategy to most innovative technology.
The full press release can be seen here and biographical details of the judges, together with photos, can be accessed here.
The sixteenth category at the awards is the People’s Choice of best TV coverage of climate change. This will not be assessed by the judges but the winner will be chosen by the votes of online viewers. We will be publishing details of the viewing and voting procedures in the next few weeks.
