Starting this week, people in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province, as well as the rest of the country, can listen to a six-hour Voice of America (VOA) radio program of news and information in Pashto, Urdu and English on FM, AM, shortwave and the Internet. The trilingual program will feature news packages, talk shows and in-depth analysis of events in the United States and Pakistan. It will be broadcast across Pakistan, with a focus on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, from 12 am until 6 am. ( 1900-0100 UTC). The format replaces an existing program that was exclusively on music.“This new program will give all Pakistanis, particularly those living in the remote region along the Afghan border, more opportunity to hear VOA’s objective news coverage of what’s happening in the world and in South Asia,” said VOA Director Danforth Austin.
VOA currently broadcasts six hours of radio news and information in Urdu daily to Pakistan, from 7 pm-12 am (1400-1900 UTC) and from 6 am-7 am (0100-0200 UTC) VOA also broadcasts from 6 pm-12 pm (1300-1900 UTC) to Pakistan in Pashto. In addition, VOA’s Urdu Service produces a daily television show, Beyond the Headlines.
Urdu and English are the official languages of Pakistan, a country with about 172 million people. But an estimated 40 million people in Pakistan speak Pashto, primarily those living near the Afghanistan border.
VOA’s broadcasting to Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province can be found online at www.VOANews.com, www.urduvoa.com and www.VOANews.com/deewa .
(R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
VOA Series Tackles Challenging Pakistani - India Issue
Format encourages engagement
Washington, D.C., January 28, 2009 - Voice of America's (VOA) Urdu and Hindi Services today launched a new television segment aimed at encouraging constructive dialogue about issues involving Pakistan and India.The weekly segments, called Samjhauta Express, feature Urdu journalist Kokab Farshori and Hindi journalist Niharika Acharya discussing traditionally tendentious issues between their two countries, such as trade, Kashmir, separated families and farming along the border.
The format encourages engagement on a wide range of bilateral matters. The debut segment focused on the role Ambassador Richard Holbooke is playing as the Obama administration’s new U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan.The series is named after the train service Samjhauta Express, which has linked Pakistan and India since 1976. Samjhauta means “understanding” in both languages."The way Samjhauta Express brings two countries together, so will we try, in a small way, to do the same through this segment," said Acharya. Farshori added that, despite differences, India and Pakistan now realize they have a "common enemy – terrorism." Samjhauta Express, which runs from two to four minutes, airs weekly on affiliate television stations Geo TV in Pakistan and Zee TV in India during the newscasts of VOA Urdu's Beyond the Headlines and VOA Hindi's America Live, respectively.
They will also be streamed on the Internet at www.VOANews.com/Urdu and www.VOANews.com/Hindi.The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 134 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.
For more information, call VOA Public Relations at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail askvoa@voanews.com .
(Voice of America)