Coming in March 2022
Featuring voices from across the U.S. and around the globe, connect your audience to the world with these unique stories and perspectives. This month, we look at the women involved in significant moments in history, investigate the Cold War, evaluate mass incarceration, and discover how people are fixing the world through technology. See below for details.
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See below for a curated selection of high performing videos.
Docs and Specials
Witness History: Women’s History Month
One hour
March 1 – 31, 2022
A special hour-long edition of Witness History, bringing together some incredible interviews looking at the women involved in significant moments in history. We hear about the first woman on the US Supreme Court, retrace the journey of the woman who got America talking about sex – Dr Ruth, and hear stories from China’s ‘Kingdom of Women’.
Cold War in Full Swing
One hour
March 12 – 18, 2022
Jazz and communist East Germany seem unlikely bedfellows. Yet in 1965 Louis Armstrong became the first American entertainer to play jazz there at the height of the Cold War. His popularity surprised the authorities considering not one record of him was available before 1965 and any passion for the music could land you in prison. Kevin Le Gendre peeks through the former Iron Curtain to discover the dangers jazz lovers faced, to pave the way for these legendary concerts to happen.
Mass Incarceration – From the Inside
One hour
March 19 – 25, 2022
The USA has nearly 5% of the world’s population – but 25% of the world’s prisoners. Over the past 40 years, the US prison population has increased 500%, making it the world’s leading jailer. Music producer Ryan Burvick runs a rejuvenation programme on Rikers Island, America’s most notorious jail. Those who have been through the prison system open up to him about their experiences.
Monthly BBC Video Selections:
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People Fixing the World: How technology that generates fake faces is helping to tackle bias in AI
- Description: These people aren’t real but could help tackle bias in tech. Facial recognition software can be used to unlock phones, check passports and catch criminals. But it doesn’t work equally well for people of all ethnic backgrounds, and when it goes wrong there can be serious consequences. It’s hoped that a new type of AI that generates fake faces to train algorithms can help solve the problem.
- Suggested social copy: How technology that generates fake faces is helping to tackle bias in facial recognition systems.
- Duration: 4 minutes 42 seconds
Why is that?: Why is it so difficult to clean the oceans of plastic?
- Description: Around 70% of marine debris is made up of plastics, but not all of this floats on the surface of the ocean. Richard Thompson, Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth in the UK, has found microplastics suspended in Arctic ice and buried in deep sea sediment. (Image: Plastic floating on water, Credit: BBC.)
- Suggested social copy:Around 70% of marine debris is made up of plastics, but not all of this floats on the surface of the ocean.
- Duration: 1 minute 8 seconds
People Fixing the World: On patrol with a real-life Robocop
- Description: It’s not like the gun-toting Robocop in the film, but police say this robot is helping to bring crime rates down. Reporter and camera: Ben Wyatt Producer: Richard Kenny.
- Suggested social copy: Police are using a robot to fight crime in Los Angeles.
- Duration: 2 minutes 25 seconds
