What media these days are informing your opinion of the world around you as a youngster in South Africa? Is it still tv and radio or one of the new media that gives you the perspectives off which to base your own views? These are two questions that I've been milling in my head after watching another thrilling episode of Carte Blanche last Sunday night. I was actually more astounded that the medium, which I once thought to be the all-consuming 'sheep' machine, actually engaged me for more than an hour and a half in one, plain sitting. Yes, I really did sit and watch everything that flickered across the tube for that long, a definite first in a while for my degenerating attention span, in the age of the mighty Internet.

What I consumed was quite gripping stuff and Derek Watts and his team of investigative journalists definitely delivered a winning formula before the big World Cup rugby game last night. It was another installment of the "Cool Earth" series of programmes on the effects of climate change and what we, as humans, can and are doing about it. I don't know how many teenagers actually watch Carte Blanche (CB) anymore, but I remember back in the day when I still at school and used to wait for Sunday nights so I could watch TV religiously due to the fact that Dawson's Creek aired the same night that I'd also be uncovering interesting stories produced by Ruda Landman and co.

Off course as you get older, and a lot busier too, time for tv watching slowly passes you by, and along with that the passion to switch the television on. The series of vegetative states as you flicker from channel to channel is left behind in your not-so-distant youth, but does that mean that one's obligation to stay informed also fades away?

I hope the answer is no because with such enquiring television such as channels 65-69, as they used to be known on DSTV, and other great investigative television series on the 'free' channels too, it would be a loss to miss out on such poignant knowledge. The Carte Blanche inserts were not only well-researched and cleverly produced, they catered for the engagement of the youth market by producing topics that all youth are fired up about and it could not have come at a better time than behind the calamitous week we've had in SA with the unravelling of Eskom's "load shedding" debacles.

I particularly enjoyed the crafty use of modern Pop music to drive home certain topics of programme, like the coverage on air travel and its effect on carbon emissions as well as a take on "Hollywood going green". The fact is that gone are the days when only the traditionalist spokespeople would be asked to give their view on a subject. I saw everyday industries being hi-lighted in one show and interviews from tabloid-like magazines such as, "Heat" to fashion experts like Dion Chang.

It was definitely a riveting show and more of which will grace our eyes in the future. Great work Carte Blanche, let's hope you can really engage with more and more youth in the years to come!