U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING TO GIVE ELECTION RESULTS IN 56 LANGUAGES
As voters go to the polls on November 7, U.S. international broadcasters are gearing up to provide detailed election coverage and analysis in 56 languages around the world.
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson said the U.S. midterm elections give the world a chance to “open a window into the heart of democracy.”
“The elections offer a wonderful opportunity to explore the workings of a free society,” Tomlinson said. “By offering accurate and objective news and analysis of the U.S. election our broadcasters give people in other countries a chance to contrast and compare our system with their own.”
Plans for special coverage include:
Alhurra satellite television will preempt regular programming to provide live continuous coverage to the Middle East beginning 5am EST on Tuesday and continue until 2am Wednesday. In addition to focusing on the electoral process and how the results will impact U.S. policy, there will be live reports from Tennessee, Virginia and Michigan.
Voice of America will provide interviews with candidates and voters from their respective diasporas such as an Iranian-American mayoral candidate in Imperial Beach, California, and Bobby Jindal, currently the only Indian-American serving in Congress. VOA will also provide special features in the Urdu language to be broadcast in prime time on GEO-TV, Pakistan’s leading independent TV news provider.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s contributing language correspondents in the U.S. will give live updates throughout the day that include interviews with Americans whose heritage is from the target country. For example, Radio Farda will have live reports from Los Angeles, where there is a large Iranian-American community and Belarusian-Americans in half a dozen states will be asked what they believed to be the important issues in this election and the impact on U.S. foreign policy.
Radio Free Asia will be providing a package of news stories to its language services with plans to include interviews with Asian-American candidates and voters.
For more information, contact Larry Hart at (202) 203-4545.