MTV has been showcasing the efforts of young Pakistani-Americans involved in Earthquake relief on many of its cable channels. As an example, you can head over to MTV Overdrive. Click on “Play Now” and then go to the “News” menu. One of the links in the menu is titled “Young People Pitch in for Pakistan.” This leads to a series of short news clips with enough music and fast camera work to hold the attention of young desis long enough to inspire them. It’s worth it just to hear aging hipster John Norris say the word “desis.” I’m digging the girl’s “I Love Nerds” shirt. The group featured in the news clips is Developments in Literacy (DIL):
The Developments in Literacy organization (DIL) was launched in February 1997 in Southern California. Its main purpose is to work for the eradication of illiteracy, in the remote and neglected areas of Pakistan, by establishing primary and secondary level non-formal schools for underprivileged children.DIL, a nonprofit, voluntary organization has succeeded, in a period of five years, at establishing 200 schools in collaboration with various NGO’s…
In addition, a press release from MTV announces that their dreamy young newsman Gideon Yago, will be reporting from Pakistan all this week, culminating in a video diary titled, “Aftershock: Diary of Gideon in Pakistan.” Presumably the clips will be uploaded onto MTV’s website throughout the week. I will try an update this post if/as I discover those links.
Starting today [Monday], MTV News will turn over a week of its programming – on all platforms – to report on the aftermath of the October earthquake that rocked northwestern Pakistan and Kashmir, leaving 87,000 dead and 3.5million homeless. MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago will report on what’s being done to aid and rebuild after the disaster – from Pakistani-American marines assigned to humanitarian relief to a local movie theater turned rehab center for women. Yago’s reports will air on MTV, MTV2, mtvU and MTV Overdrive and will culminate in the documentary “Aftershock: Diary of Gideon in Pakistan,” premiering Friday at 7:30p.m. [Link]
I’m actually looking forward to seeing it. I think the interaction between young Pakistani-American Marines and the local population could make for some powerful television.
Update: The Vice President of MTV news, Ocean MacAdams, has provided us with direct links
The Diary Of Gideon In Pakistan (FULL SHOW plus exclusives)
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p>Gideon In Pakistan: Exclusive Clips
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p>Aftershock: South Asian Earthquake (Comp of news briefs)
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p>Young People Pitch In For Pakistan (Desi packages)
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this sounds interesting…. gideon yago in pakistan… hmm
somewhat OT, but it seems John Norris isn’t aging quite as hiply as Kurt Loder.
btw- what’s going on with MTV Desi? I was curious. Does anyone here have it? (I have Comcast, so I guess I am not eligible to get it).
My god, Kurt Loder and John Norris are still on MTV? KL has to be getting really old. He was 40 or something when I was 13, and folks, that’s been a long time ago. Are there any women that old on MTV?
Now I’m pissed.
Motown, MTV Desi is presently only available on non-cable systems (ie, dish or directv) which in my opinion is extremely short-sighted, as the entire demographic they seek to capture is Gen X and younger, most of whom have cable tv, not grey dishes hanging from their porches. It’s a potentially great idea, but nobody I know has been able to view the channel because only aunties & uncles have the dish, so they can get their daily dose of Saat Phere and Office-Office. It makes zero marketing sense to me, and to make it worse, their web-content does minimal to augment the channel and lure in viewers who may not be able to watch at home (cable subscribers)… I don’t know what to do, other than paint a big sign that reads “MTV Desi, your target demographic is HERE =>”
but maybe they’ll catch on someday.
DesiDancer – I’m pretty sure MTV Desi is only offered on statellite because they can’t get regular cable providers to carry them, not because they WANT to be only offered on one-little used tv service provider. it’s a similar situation to when MTV2 launched – it was only available on premium channels or satellite or something like that and later was offered more widely when the channel gained in popularity.
I’d love to agree with you, mediaphile, but I think with the behemoth power that is MTV Networks and Viacom, surely they can push their 3 little ethnic music channels along with the rest of their empire. I mean, if I have to suffer 4 jesus channels, 3 shopping networks, and a couple of iterations of Lifetime/Estrogen/whatever network, and the latin community gets no less than 4 channels on my cable provider, then surely MTV/Viacom can flex its collective muscle with cable providers and get what it wants distributed.
FURTHER, with the recent announcement that AZN channel is no more, I think they have an available slot for Asians who like TV…
sorry to barge in on the conversation, but I just wanted to thank you for noting our coverage. We’ve ben getting a great response. Make sure you check out the show Friday night!
Ocean MacAdams VP, MTV News
P.S. If ONLY it was that easy to get carriage on cable systems!
Ocean and mtv, thanks for covering it without the typical slants and patronizing angles.
Hey, everyone – since you all seemed interested, I thought you might want to get links to everything we have done
The Diary Of Gideon In Pakistan (FULL SHOW plus exclusives) http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/index.jhtml?name=news&id=1520735
Gideon In Pakistan: Exclusive Clips http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/index.jhtml?name=news&id=1520658
Aftershock: South Asian Earthquake (Comp of news briefs) http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/index.jhtml?name=news&id=1520483
Young People Pitch In For Pakistan (Desi packages) http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/index.jhtml?name=news&id=1520442
Thank you.
I TiVo’d this on MTV yesterday. It was quite good. A substatial amount of time was spent interviewing the young Pakistani Amerian Marines in addition to young local volunteers. If you missed it you can watch the show in its entirety by following the links provided by MacAdams.