Initiative calls for regular prime-time show on climate crisis in German TV

Campaigners in Germany are calling for a regular prime-time show about climate change on public television, in order to draw more attention to the topic and educate the public on the necessity of emissions reduction measures. The "KLIMA° vor acht" ('climate before eight') initiative points out that public broadcaster ARD has been running a show called "Börse vor acht" ('stock exchange before eight') during the highly attractive time slot shortly before 8 PM for 20 years. "But only one in six citizens owns stocks, whereas the climate concerns every one of us," KLIMA° vor acht said in a press release. The initiative quickly reached a crowd-funding goal of 20,000 euros at the beginning of September, which it says it will use to produce its first six episodes of a show on climate change "based on scientific facts" that will be made available online. "Reporting on the climate crisis urgently needs to change," said the initiative's co-founder Julia Zwick. "We need comprehensive knowledge about this crisis to not only find possible ways out of it but also to start following them through," she said.

Climate change has constantly figured high on the list of concerns of citizens in Germany in recent years and also has been increasingly reported on by media outlets. While about one in four Germans in 2015 said they did not regularly receive information on climate topics, the number fell to one in nine people by 2020, an analysis by economic research institute IW Köln found.