The Discovery Channel is expected to announce a reality television deal with Sarah Palin, in which the former Alaska governor will highlight her home state.
Palin has been shopping the show to broadcast and cable networks including A&E, but Variety reported Monday that the network was out of the running leaving Discovery as the presumptive front-runner.
While the former governor may seem like an unusual fit for Discovery, the topic of Alaska fits in with the network’s heavy rotation of shows on nature and world travel. Variety reports that the show is expected to fetch more than $1 million an episode.
Discovery Channel had until now a very clear position on wildlife and the environment. They promoted the preservation of both. In the past they have teamed up with the BBC Natural History Unit to produce the most breathtaking series about our planet, such as Planet Earth and Blue Planet, among others.
Here are some samples of their commitment to the preservation of the environment and endangered species:Explore the vulnerability of nature in this complimentary series to Planet Earth – a poignant truth about Earth's diverse wildlife and spectacular landscapes. Using Planet Earth's astonishing images as a starting-point, this three-part series features expert discussion on environmental and conservation issues and asks how much of the world revealed in Planet Earth will ever be seen again.
***
Can the environment make for entertaining TV? Discovery Communications is about to find out.
Planet Green will replace the Discovery Home Channel in more than 50 million homes. Eyeing the public's increased interest in environmental issues, Discovery is confident that it can attract more viewers with green-themed programming.
Discovery's Planet Green produced an entire series based on survival in Alaska. Various teams were faced with the harsh environment and had to hunt to feed themselves.
Why is Discovery planning to buy Sarah Palin's vision of Alaska? She stands for the exact opposite of everything they promoted over the years.
A few of Sarah Palin's dirty deeds spring to mind:
- Drilling in ANWR
- Suing the federal government to remove both polar bears and Beluga whales from the endangered species lists.
- Sarah Palin supported mining in Alaska regardless of the environmental impact.Her image and statements were used to influence the vote on the clean water issue involving Pebble Mine. The mine poses a serious threat to Bristol Bay's salmon.
- Appointments to the Board of Game were biased and favoured commercial hunters. These people have been removing protections to wolves and bears that live on federal lands.
- Sarah Palin offered $150 for each wolf's left paw and encouraged wolf aerial hunting.
- She doesn't believe in climate change, one of the most serious threats to the environment both humans and wildlife.
How are Sarah Palin's positions on the environment and wildlife attractive to a channel like Discovery?
People all over the world watch the many channels under the Discovery umbrella because they love the planet and all the creatures that live on this fragile Earth of ours. People want to be entertained but trust Discovery to be on the right side of the issues.
Sarah Palin's policies were toxic to Alaska.
I'm afraid that Discovery will become just as toxic to the world if they associate themselves with a person like Sarah Palin. If Discovery goes ahead with this project, it will be clear that Discovery and Sarah Palin have one thing in common: the love of money.
They seem prepared to invest between $1 and $1.5 million per episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska. They paid more in the joint ventures with the BBC and got the passion of David Attenborough, an honest, committed broadcaster and presenter.
Sarah Palin's lies are not worth $1, but Discovery is prepared to compromise their own vision of the world for money.
Screw Alaska. Screw the planet.Discovery
PETA
Alaska Wildlife Alliance
Care2
Defenders od Wildlife
.
No comments:
Post a Comment