date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 10:49:06 +0100 from: J.H.Smith@open.ac.uk subject: media seminar on COP6 to: m.hulme@uea.ac.uk Dear Dr. Hulme I'm writing to ask if you would be willing to contribute to a briefing meeting for BBC news and current affairs in advance of the forthcoming UN climate talks. This forms part of the Cambridge Media and Environment Programme of seminars that I run jointly with Roger Harrabin of the BBC R4 Today Programme (see: www-cies.geog.cam.ac.uk/www-cies/MediaSems.html for more information on these). You will be aware that the Programme forms part of the Cambridge contribution to the work of the Tyndall Centre. We are looking for a lunchtime date, ideally in the second half of October, allowing editors and journalists time to commission and prepare material on COP6. We expect that the meeting will take 1.5 hours, and include two or three short presentations from three contributors (15mins each) interspersed with discussion. The meeting will start at 1.30. Would you be willing to contribute? I know that there are huge pressures on your time, but this is an important (and difficult) audience to reach with these issues, and the seminars on various environment and sustainability topics have in the past enabled increased and improved coverage. We have pencilled in October 19th as a possibility, but understand from your office at UEA that you may be out of the country at that time. If you are willing to do the meeting, could you let me know if this or any other dates are possible? Ideally Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. You are welcome to email or call me on my home office phone (below). I am on leave from the Open University this week, but expect to be on this number most mornings. Alternatively you can call my colleague Roger Harrabin on 0207 209 0829. If you cannot contribute, don't hesitate to suggest other climate change experts that you feel would enjoy and perform well in this kind of environment. While you are one of the more experienced media performers in this territory, one of the subsidiary aims of the Programme is to broaden the media's cast list on these issues. (Indeed it would be good to talk to you about our work in the next three years regardless of whether or not you can contribute on this occasion). Yours Joe Dr. Joe Smith Lecturer, Faculty of Social Sciences Open University, Milton Keynes Email: j.h.smith@open.ac.uk Home office tel: 01223 740135 Open Univ. tel: 01908 659232