I Bet You Didn’t Watch NBC’s “Thirsty Planet” Series

“NBC reporters and producers went around the world reporting on challenges with H2O,” the Peacock network tells us about their special series “Thirsty Planet,” which aired on Nightly News with Brian Williams last week.

They produced a very nice companion website, too. It includes information on how looming shortages will affect you, tips on what you can do to reduce water consumption, and explores trends and consequences for future generations. It’s good work.

So here’s the problem. I didn’t watch the series. And odds are, you didn’t either.
Source: State of the News Media 2006

Once upon a time, a big network news series like this could move the dial on public opinion nationwide, but no longer. “Thirsty Planet” just didn’t drive much chatter around the office watercooler last week — the people who still watch network news don’t go to offices. They’re mostly retired.

So where has the network news audience gone? Lots of different places. The decline of network news, depicted above, coincides with the explosion of cable offerings, depicted below.

Source: Fundamental Shifts in U.S. Media and Advertising Industries

And of course, the surge of web video over the past three years has created even for competition for the old school networks. Check out the chart below: YouTube has left NBC choking on its dust in the race for an online audience.

Source: Alexa

So what does all this mean for nature protection and pollution control experts? What should we do about it? It’s my view that the decline of NBC and the rest of the traditional news media means that we should focus our efforts on telling our story to America ourselves, in a clear and compelling manner. I believe that thousands of conservationists blogging, podcasting, posting videos to YouTube, etc… can — will — must — take the place of “Thirsty Planet” and other news stories that have ever less influence on America’s opinion about our work.

It looks like NBC did a really nice job with “Thirsty Planet,” and I’m glad about it. But you should still focus on getting your own message out, instead of waiting around and hoping some journalist will do it for you.

Hat tip to the Aquafornia blog for alerting me to this series.

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