frogblog

If you get most of your information about from TV, you probably don’t know that much about the grave environmental challenges we face. That’s the thesis forwarded by Ian Spellerberg, a professor of nature conservation at Lincoln University, in an op-ed in the Herald this morning. It reads:

It is difficult to see how society can develop accepted codes for living sustainably, or less unsustainably, when our view of the world is packaged around messages that encourage consumption and waste as a central aspect of our lifestyle.

Most of this concern is reserved for television, the mass media with the most power to reflect and shape our behaviour. Research has confirmed the paucity of material to reflect efforts on sustainability, and there is almost nothing to encourage a less damaging existence… There is virtually nothing that explores the deeper concepts of sustainability, human eco-dependency or declining environmental indicators…

Such a lack of regard for environmental sustainability themes is difficult to reconcile with the broadcasters’ stated aims. In particular, Television New Zealand, a state-owned enterprise, has a charter that aims to “seek to extend the range of ideas and experiences available to New Zealanders” and to feature programmes that “contribute towards intellectual, scientific and cultural development, and promote informed and many-sided debate”.

Studies of network television content illustrate the need for broadcasting codes to have greater regard for ideas and events that support a paradigm shift in human values and patterns of resource allocation… Imagine how much more could be achieved if that industry, our most powerful norm-setter, considered the challenge we all face together.

The real problem is that TVNZ is modelled around making money, not doing what National Radio does - that is, provide an intelligent window into the world. Only when the Government moves TVNZ from a profit model to a public service one will environmental concerns receive adequate attention.

Bookmark to: