The Broadcast Board of Governors has announced that its Alhurra (TV) and Radio Sawa outlets made special efforts to cover recent late November elections in Egypt and Morocco. Each service placed correspondents in several cities to report live. Radio Sawa had correspondents in Alexandria, Luxor, Cairo, Damietta and Asyout, Egypt for the Egyptian elections and in both countries provided live coverage of returns and news.
Middle East Broadcasting Networks President Brian Conniff said: “Alhurra and Radio Sawa have been at the forefront of reporting from Egypt and will continue to do so as the country enters a new era… There is a lot of interest in Egypt’s Parliamentary election both from Egypt and the rest of the region especially with the protests across the country and the Egyptian people calling for the end to military rule.”
While North Africa saw historic democratic elections, the BBG also announced that its 19-year old Croatian service, VOA Croatian, signed off in mid-November. With the country a member of NATO and soon to be joining the European Union, the service “ends with Croatia’s emergence as a democratic member of the European community,” said a release. VOA Director David Ensor said the service was “a model of journalistic integrity that provided the people of Croatia with fair and impartial news during the dark days of civil war in the Balkans.”
For some inside baseball on international broadcasting and the issues confronting it, presentations from the recent BBG Pop!Tech event have been posted on YouTube. Check them out if for no other reason than to see the VOA’s own Internet phenom, Jessica Beinecke of “OMG! Meiyu.”
