birding-aus

Re: Bird Publicity

To: "Bob & Sadhana Cook" <>, "Peter Waanders" <>, "Hugo Phillipps" <>, "Birding Aus" <>
Subject: Re: Bird Publicity
From: S Cooney <>
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 19:15:26 +1100
Hi All,

I have been working on a Victorian Birdline (stay tuned for an announcement tonight) and I had toyed with the idea of a national, weekly birdline update for a couple of minutes, mentioning unusual sightings, for those interested, but also taking the opportunity to cover topics of conservation and volunteerism on birding issues, things like wetland restoration, bird banding (in Victoria Clive Minton gets an annual spot on the commercial news banding birds) and the like. I had Burkey in mind, but also considered the Lifestyle channel on Foxtel.

A celeb to host would be great, but maybe someone just needs to take the initiative and make a 3 minute grab that could be presented to the networks.

I reckon its worth consideration

Stuart

At 19:07 13/11/00, Bob & Sadhana Cook wrote:
I agree with Peter's thoughts, particularly regarding making the opportunity
rather than waiting for it to appear.

How about approaching the "lifestyle" television program producers, i.e.
Burke's Backyard (BBY), Better Homes & Gardens, even the ABC's garden
program.  Surely if BBY can devote a segment every show to a breed of dog,
they could have a segment, say every second show, highlighting/profiling a
native bird or bird family and its habitat.  The focus would need to be, at
least initially, very much on "high-profile" species, e.g. Honeyeaters,
Parrots, Wrens, Kingfishers, Raptors.   Over time, if such segments
persisted successfully, other issues such as endangered species, bird clubs,
effects of land clearing, wetlands, etc. could be introduced.

An appropriate "expert" could do the segment - I think they occasionally use
a character whose name I forget, (is his surname Denham?) for "nature"
issues.  It could be linked to backyard gardens or local parks and reserves
and linked to native plant species.  E.g. Swift Parrots in SE Melbourne
suburbs.  BA, or others, could provide appropriate supporting material with
little effort as it would only be a brief segment.  (Perhaps JG could
provide an appropriate poem to go with each species!! - Just joking).

What better way to get really broad exposure!  There is always the greatest
value in aiming highest.  If all those putting in suggestions, criticism and
encouragement to this chat line were to think about it and do some nosing
around, I'm sure someone knows someone who knows how to get to the right
people.

I believe that a good case could be made for the benefits to BBY, and
others, to include such a short segment as great entertainment and also as
light-weight education.

On a related matter, I was fascinated to watch the last show of Morse last
night and see how, as Inspector Morse contemplated his retirement, he was
taking up bird-watching.  And it was portrayed as the most negative end of
the road for the hero - how depressing it was - to end up retiring to watch
birds!!  This is the media sending a rather atrocious message about the
delights of our shared occupation.

Bob Cook


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