Chat the Planet

Chat the Planet uses satellite and web technology to enable young people from different countries to talk about issues affecting their lives. Pre-recorded video inserts introduce each topic and serve to instigate the conversation. The participants share their perspectives and opinions on various issues, such as music and pop culture or world issues and ethics. The first six episodes linked young people from the United States (US), South Africa, Australia, and Jordan to discuss activism and materialism (in "What Money Can't Buy", May 10 2003), political correctness (in "Tongue-Tied", May 17 2003), immigration and nationalism (in "Gated Freedom", May 24 2003), youth culture (in "Generation Why?", May 31 2003), family values (June 7 2003), and war (June 14 2003).

Chat the Planet has aired on Link TV (US), Fly TV, and on ABC in Australia. Additionally, in the Middle East, Chat the Planet is broadcast on Al Quds Educational Television in Palestine, MDC in the United Arab Emirates, Zen Satellite Station in Lebanon, Abu Dhabi TV, Nile TV, and additional broadcasters from Jordan. The broadcast partner in South Africa is SABC1.

Youth, Conflict, Tolerance.

According to organisers, the conventional media remains inaccessible to young people who wish to exchange their perspectives rather than be passive viewers. This circumstance is ironic, they say, in light of the fact that young people often occupy the focus of social and political debate and dialogue.

Chat the Planet's producers helped to produce a video satellite link that connected American and Iraqi youth immediately prior to the war, called Bridge to Baghdad. A follow up with the same young people was produced in mid 2003. Chat also produced "Chat The Planet: Baghdad 2-Way", which aired on MTV in October 2004 as part of its "Choose or Lose Campaign". This televised special focused on youth experiences with, and perspectives on, the war in Iraq. Organisers say, "on September 14th, 2004, there were 10 car bombings. As a result 57 Iraqis and three American soldiers were killed. On that same day in Baghdad, just blocks from those two car bombings, our team shot the emotionally-charged conversation between a handful of young Iraqis and a group of young Americans from Kent State University in Ohio. They discussed hard-hitting subjects like life, war, democracy and the upcoming presidential elections."