Battle for the Elephants

B

Buldeo

Well-Known Member
This is my first thread, so please be kind. :)

National Geographic has been trailing behind the BBC's now famed Natural History Unit in terms of output and quality over the past few years. There was The Last Lions in '11 and suddenly nothing.

So it was with some surprise that I stumbled upon an ad for the forthcoming Battle for the Elephants in the latest issue. Debuting Stateside on the 27th of February, the program

About the Film said:
explores the brutal slaughter of African elephants for their tusks, fueled largely by China’s demand for ivory.

The film tells the ultimate wildlife story — how the Earth’s most charismatic and majestic land animal today faces market forces driving the value of its tusks to levels once reserved for precious metals. Journalists Bryan Christy and Aidan Hartley take viewers undercover as they investigate the criminal network behind ivory’s supply and demand. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, one of the world’s main ports for smuggled ivory, Hartley attempts to buy large quantities of tusks from poachers. In China, Christy explores the thriving industry of luxury goods made from ivory and the ancient cultural tradition of ivory carving.
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The series is set to debut on your local PBS station, so check local listings for airtime as always. No word on the possibility of our overseas friends to check it out yet, though.

The PBS site: Battle for the Elephants

National Geographic's companion article from October 2012: Blood Ivory

 
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I'm glad to see that they are making documentaries for PBS still. especially about elephants and the conservation crisis. Hopefully it will get much attention and viewership.

I'm guessing that one of the reasons their PBS association is sporadic is that they now have their own channel to make stuff for.
 
Isn't it preaching to the converted though? Don't people who have Nat Geo already into conservation and have some awareness of these issues? Does anyone watch PBS, or is it all MTV and HBO?
 
nanoboy said:
Isn't it preaching to the converted though? Don't people who have Nat Geo already into conservation and have some awareness of these issues? Does anyone watch PBS, or is it all MTV and HBO?
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Does anybody watch MTV anymore?

Yes, people watch PBS. It's audience tends to like science, news, and conservation. Lots of people don't know about elephants, so any programming like this is useful.
 
DavidBrown said:
Does anybody watch MTV anymore?

Yes, people watch PBS. It's audience tends to like science, news, and conservation. Lots of people don't know about elephants, so any programming like this is useful.
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I have no idea what kids watch. I should ask Thylo et al what the hottest music station is.

Why I ask, is that we have a new TV station here targeting Aborigines (or if it makes you sleep better at night, Native Australians :p). Anyway, highlighting Aboriginal issues there isn't heard by the wider community because no one else really watches it, and Aborigines already know what they experience daily anyway. I think Aboriginal issues would get far better coverage on prime time on one of the more popular channels.

So I wonder if it's the same thing with these docos on Nat Geo and PBS. Even if you aren't aware of the plight of the elephant, you quite like nature anyway, and weren't going to buy ivory anyway. Shouldn't these docos be shown in China and SE Asia instead to highlight elephants' plight to the very people responsible for killing them? Or at the very least, at prime time on popular American channels, and on Chinese/Vietnamese channels that serve the immigrant community?
 
nanoboy said:
So I wonder if it's the same thing with these docos on Nat Geo and PBS. Even if you aren't aware of the plight of the elephant, you quite like nature anyway, and weren't going to buy ivory anyway. Shouldn't these docos be shown in China and SE Asia instead to highlight elephants' plight to the very people responsible for killing them? Or at the very least, at prime time on popular American channels, and on Chinese/Vietnamese channels that serve the immigrant community?
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The ivory story has been getting relatively heavy play in the news media here in the U.S. I think that "60 Minutes" did a story on it, which is about the most prominent attention that a news story can get from a U.S. broadcast network. Elephant conservation organizations are working with Chinese media partners to get out the story. I subscribe to the "Save the Elephants" newsfeed on Facebook and it looks like several organizations are doing exactly what you propose based on press releases and interviews that I see coming through that.
 
DavidBrown said:
The ivory story has been getting relatively heavy play in the news media here in the U.S. I think that "60 Minutes" did a story on it, which is about the most prominent attention that a news story can get from a U.S. broadcast network. Elephant conservation organizations are working with Chinese media partners to get out the story. I subscribe to the "Save the Elephants" newsfeed on Facebook and it looks like several organizations are doing exactly what you propose based on press releases and interviews that I see coming through that.
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That's great news David. Thanks for sharing. I recall another thread (probably one that you started) that mentioned Yao Ming on billboards declaring his disdain for ivory. If the cameras followed him around in Africa, that would have been a fantastic reality doco to show on Chinese TV. (Maybe there is something in the pipeline....)
 
Chlidonias said:
I wonder if "NITV" is intentionally similar to "native" if said as one word.....
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It seems like a weird name. I wonder if they will get the ridiculously lame game shows and hysterical subtitles we get on Maori TV, where even slang terms like "cuz" are subtitled as "cousin". :D
 
zooboy28 said:
It seems like a weird name. I wonder if they will get the ridiculously lame game shows and hysterical subtitles we get on Maori TV, where even slang terms like "cuz" are subtitled as "cousin". :D
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According to some of your previous posts, it looks like you will be around these here parts for a few years to see for yourself. :p
 
nanoboy said:
Shouldn't these docos be shown in China and SE Asia instead to highlight elephants' plight to the very people responsible for killing them? Or at the very least, at prime time on popular American channels, and on Chinese/Vietnamese channels that serve the immigrant community?
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nanoboy (and anybody else interested), here is a story about publicizing elephant conservation in China:

Elephant Campaign Targets China Consumers
 
DavidBrown said:
The ivory story has been getting relatively heavy play in the news media here in the U.S.
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I missed this during the original air time, but the first episode is now available on-line in its entirety. It appears that'll be airing again(?) on March 2nd. Check local listings.

DavidBrown is right; the ivory story has been getting a metric tonne of coverage in areas that might have traditionally ignored/avoided/whatever the topic. For example, The New York Times has spilled a lot of ink over the past couple of months covering the ivory trade in all of its various forms.

Most recently: An Illicit Trail of African Ivory to China

Series hub: The Price of Ivory

It seems that a couple of earlier articles have fallen by the wayside.
 
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