Summary: Blue-collar jobs have been leaving America for decades. Now, thousands of higher paying positions are also moving abroad. This program examines the pros and cons of white-collar outsourcing, highlighting emotional and ideological divisions on the topic. It also studies real-life examples of outsourcing in action. An in-depth look at India's booming call center industry-which provides systematic...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: With the whole world now interconnected, speaking English is commonly seen as a fast track to a good future. Students in Beijing spend Friday evenings practicing the lingo at “English corners,” and employees of a Bangalore call center work on neutralizing their Indian accents. But in many countries there’s concern about a growing divide between those who speak English - a well-off, Europeanized...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this Peabody Award-winning program, CNBC's David Faber scrutinizes Wal-Mart as he seeks to understand how the company has ascended to the heights of power it has come to occupy-and whether this juggernaut can continue to succeed in the face of increased opposition. Given unprecedented access, Faber takes viewers from an annual managers' meeting that resembles an evangelical revival to the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: How did a language originally spoken in just a small part of the British Isles come to dominate the communication of so many different countries? From its start as a diverse group of Anglo-Saxon dialects and all the way onward to adoption on a global scale, this program tracks the establishment of English as the world’s common tongue. English crossed the sea by means of settlement, trade, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Day-to-day use of English has impacted local languages everywhere, spawning the growth of variants such as India’s Hinglish and Singlish in Singapore. Do these variations undermine language, or do they enrich it? This program examines the emergence of hybrid forms of English and discusses their pros and cons. A push by the Singapore government to promote Standard English was met with fierce,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Amish rarely allow themselves to be photographed or filmed, yet several members of the isolated religious community agreed to appear in this eye-opening documentary. Filmed on location in Pennsylvania and Ohio Amish country, the program goes beyond stereotypes and common misconceptions, presenting a fully human portrait of a misunderstood people. Interviews with Amish men and women-some...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Satisfying one's hunger is a primal act which most Westerners never connect to global issues. But the diets and farming systems of wealthy countries can be directly linked to starvation in the underdeveloped world. This program sheds light on the international tragedy of hunger and malnutrition, emphasizing that the problem is one of distribution, not production. Filmed in Asia, South America,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: With the population of the Earth poised to double within the next five decades, there is evidence that the pendulum of overpopulation is beginning to swing the other way. In this program, Population Communication's Robert Gillespie visits India, China, Mexico, Indonesia, Iran, Ghana, Nigeria, France, the U.S., and elsewhere to observe a fertility transition that may prove to be one of the most...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Forests protect and nurture humanity in a variety of ways. Why, then, does deforestation continue? Who is responsible for it? This program analyzes the problem through a socioeconomic lens, drawing connections between corporate interests, food security concerns, and annihilation of the planet's woodlands. Outlining the history of deforestation from Roman times to WWII, the film focuses on the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: With hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide, a net worth in the billions, and a dozen brands, General Motors is at the center of the political debate over globalization, the environment, and the future of the U.S. economy. In this program, GM President and CEO Rick Wagoner talks with BBC Chief Washington Correspondent Matt Frei. Topics under discussion include America's unending love...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: A growing number of environmentalists, ethicists, and economists believe that the needs of the "have-nots" will one day become too powerful to ignore. This program highlights that viewpoint, illustrating vast disparities between the living standards of developed and underdeveloped nations and questioning the wisdom of looking the other way. Deconstructing conventional economic notions of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: In addition to documenting the Great War itself, Albert Kahn's team of photographers recorded the impact of the conflict on French civilian life. This program examines offerings from Kahn's Archive of the Planet, exploring both the propaganda value and the genuine emotional power in images of the war-torn French populace. French and Belgian refugees, ruined churches, and farms tended by women...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Exploring Kenya's multifaceted urban and rural settings, this program looks at the various cultures found within the nation today. Viewers will experience the country's spectacular diversity-and the difficulty of providing education and mass communication for a population that speaks well over 40 languages. Highlighting the challenges of conflicting cultural traditions and beliefs, the program...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: China's global influence has grown enormously since the turn of the new century. Now the second-largest economy in the world, its citizens are buying up consumer goods both domestically and from abroad in record numbers. In this collection of 12 ABC News segments, anchor Diane Sawyer travels from Beijing to Shanghai exploring life in the Asian nation and the part the U.S. has played in shaping...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: This compelling documentary examines efforts to promote and safeguard peace in the 20th century, a century defined by its wars. Even today, more than a dozen wars are raging, many of them in Africa. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan discusses the history and the role of the United Nations, using the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea as an example. Other scholars explore the purpose of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Poverty, emigration, declining birth rates, and ethnic divisions weakened many European countries as the 20th century began. From France to the Balkans, leaders prescribed nationalism and military buildup as the only solutions. This program studies the continent's march to war as depicted in the photographic record commissioned by French banker Albert Kahn. Early color images and film footage...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: City planning that puts people before cars, sculptural museums that are as artistic as the masterpieces they contain, commercial spaces that redefine retail—these are some of the paradigm-shaking ideas of today’s architects at work. This compilation of recent NewsHour segments introduces viewers to Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Vincent Scully, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Koran strictly forbids charging, earning, or incurring interest-a tenet that has kept the Islamic world from fully participating in global financial systems. But, thanks to a range of innovations, the ban is now seen as a building block in many of Asia's emerging economies. Visiting bustling commerce centers in Malaysia and Bangladesh, this program reports on the growing significance of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: While governments and industries reshape the world on a grand scale, countless individuals have pledged themselves to facilitating change at the grassroots level, one village at a time. This program interviews North American and European volunteers and the people in developing countries who are receiving their humanitarian and political assistance. By living together and sharing cultural...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: How is business without borders really affecting the world? As Sabeer Bhatia, inventor of Hotmail; Narayan Murthy, founder of Infosys; and other industry leaders attest, globalization has raised the standard of living in developing economies through high-tech opportunities, foreign investment, and debt relief. However, Harvard's Jeffrey Sachs and other experts point out that the world market is...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program explores the traditional medical practices of the Bono people of central Ghana and how their healers are cooperating with Western doctors, using herbs and spiritualism to improve health-care delivery in rural areas. Traditionally, Bono tribal priests undergo a painful spiritual possession, during which deities reveal to them the causes of illnesses, which plants to use to treat...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Swahili or English? Extended or nuclear family? Cattle or camel herding? For the proud, pastoral Masai tribe of Africa, Western culture's advance brings decisions in every area of an ancient lifestyle. Filmed over the course of seven years, this program follows one family as it contends with the challenges of modernity facing the Masai people as a whole. Through interviews and an extremely...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: As America undergoes rapid economic, cultural, and political changes, how is its global image evolving? In what ways do expatriate Americans shape foreign perceptions of the United States? And what is it like for homegrown U.S. citizens to live among those who understand little about them? This program presents interviews with Americans in Russia, France, Italy, Greece, and Egypt. Each shares...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Situated near an oasis in Niger’s Ayar Mountains, the remote settlement of Timia is home to small-scale wheat growers. Once a year, after the harvest is done, members of the Kel Ewen clan federation - a subgroup of the Tuareg nomads - will venture into the merciless Tenere desert to trade their wares. Almost 600 kilometers lie between the paradise-like gardens of Timia and the village of Bilma,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008