VOA Boosts Coverage in Wake of Kenya Attack
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Voice of America is providing audiences in Africa and around the world with extensive coverage of the deadly terror attack and its aftermath in Nairobi, Kenya.
Continuously updated reports are available on radio, television, the Internet, and mobile and social media platforms.
The VOA Swahili Service has preempted its regular radio program for live coverage focused on the unfolding drama, including telephone interviews with local government officials, police, and eyewitnesses, as well as U.S. perspectives.
VOA, which operates an FM station in Nairobi, has also added Swahili broadcasts to its regular English language program lineup, which has included wide-ranging analysis and comprehensive coverage of the attack, claimed by al-Shabab, the Somali-based extremist group.
VOA programs, including Nightline Africa, have included President Obama’s pledge of solidarity with Kenya, coverage of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s address to the nation, interviews with Somalia’s foreign minister in Washington and comments from Kenyan Muslim leaders repudiating the attack.
From VOA’s news bureau in Nairobi, reporters have been providing constant on-scene coverage plus a steady stream of interviews with Red Cross officials, Kenyan security analysts and terror experts. U.S.-based correspondents at the State Department, Pentagon, Congress and White House are supplying all VOA language services with the latest reaction from Washington.
Voice of America’s Somali Service has scheduled (Tuesday) a special call-in show focusing on ways to combat the influence of al-Shabab in light of the Nairobi attack. The program will include young people and U.S.-based religious scholars, who are expected to discuss the terror group’s claim to be working on behalf of Somalis.
VOA Swahili programs are also being fed by satellite to affiliate stations and added to the FM station in the South Sudanese capital of Juba.
All of VOA’s popular English language television programs to Africa will provide the latest news and analysis. In addition to radio, TV and the Internet, VOA reaches audiences throughout Africa on a variety of mobile phone services.
For more information about this release, contact Kyle King at the VOA Public Relations office in Washington at (202) 203-4959, or write kking@voanews.com. For more information about VOA, visit the VOA Public Relations website at www.insidevoa.com, or the main news site at www.voanews.com.