Somali Interviews

VOA's Somali Service had a terrific scoop -- interviewed the father of the 16-year-old Somali pirate who is in U.S. custody. The Dad, who calls himself a nomad, says he can't believe his son would do such a thing as piracy. Check out www.voanews.com

Also, wanted to mention we've just run a terrific training program in Haiti for journalists -- teaching them how to cover drug resistance and avian influenza.

Please make sure you follow my blog! And let me know the kinds of things you want to know about.

VOA's Persian News Network

There have been a lot of stories out there about
VOA's Persian News Network. Here's the REAL story: The State Department’s Office of Inspector General has issued a report that, overall, praises the Voice of America’s (VOA) Persian News Network (PNN). “VOA successfully built PNN into its first full-fledged network in an extraordinarily short period of time,” said the report, which is posted on the State Department’s website, http://oig.state.gov/documents/organization/121748.pdf. “Given the U.S. strategic interest in communicating with Iranians, PNN represents a major achievement in setting up a network that reaches approximately 29 percent of Iranians in Iran," the report said. Started in July 2007, PNN now reaches more than 13 million people weekly in a country with no press freedom. That's huge. Of course, there have been some hiccups in creating a network -- and the State Department report points those out. But, VOA has embraced the recommendations in the report and moved to make changes already.

And, if you want to see for yourself, just come visit VOA and take a Studio Tour where we watch Farsi broadcasting. You can also check it out at www.voanews.com/Persian.

Lots of VOA News ...

VOA is a busy place these days...
1. First, VOA's Radio Deewa -- the vibrant, popular 24-hour-a-day Pashto-language program that reaches into Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province. VOA Director Dan Austin -- in a letter published in the New York Times(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/opinion/106voice.html
talked about the reporting Deewa is doing. Dan's letter was a rebuttal of a piece former Pentagon official Doug Feith published in the NYT. Feith claimed that U.S. broadcasting was not around to cover the bombing of the Shrine of Rahman Baba on March 5. Not only did Deewa cover it -- we had three journalists there!

Then, there was Ahmad Babeti's story on CBS's 60 Minutes. Anderson Cooper interviewed Batebi about his time in an Iranian prison. Chilling stuff! Check out the piece on Ahmad's website. http://www.ahmadbatebi.us/

Oh yes -- and check out the new VOA homepage at www.voanews.com

And our coverage of Obama's Town Hall in Turkey.
Meantime, VOA is planning a big Town Hall meeting on May 5 at the Newseum. We're doing this with George Washington University -- more later...

I'm off this week, but checking in remotely. Joan

VOA's Outreach to Iran

I forgot to post this earlier in the week, but here's VOA's response to John Brown’s blog “A Note to Obama and YouTube.” (http://publicdiplomacypressandblogreview.blogspot/com/
John:
"Your blog post of Friday, March 20 implies President Obama, in his address to the Iranian people on Nowruz, bypassed U.S. international broadcasting, including the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the two U.S. government broadcasters that provide news and information directly to Iran.

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The White House provided VOA, the largest Persian-language broadcaster, with Obama’s three-minute taped address in advance, embargoed for release at 11:30 p.m. Thursday EDT. VOA provided the tape to its sister broadcastes, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL); Radio Free Asia (RFA); Middle East Broadcasting Network (Al Hurra TV and Radio Sawa) and Radio/TV Marti.

By the time the embargo was lifted, the Obama video was posted on www.voanews.com, www.voanews.com/persian/, and VOA’s partner YouTube channels as well as on other U.S. international broadcasting sites.

VOA reaches more than 29 people million people weekly with its Persian News Network – satellite television, radio and Internet. RFE/RL runs Radio Farda which broadcasts into Iran."

VOA Briefing From IFES

VOA reporters just had terrific briefing from staffers at IFES -- The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). The non-partisan, non-profit organization, which works in about 60 countries and is supported by the U.S. Government, among others. IFES provides provides countries with technical advice and tools to run democratic elections. Chris Hennemyer, vice president for communications and compliance, said IFES doesn't view elections as isolated events but rather as processes that unfold over time." IFES is working all over the world -- including places like Sudan.

VOA Visits UVA

Here is Beth Mendelson (left), Henna Ayub (middle) and me (right)

This weekend, I visited the University of Virginia where a wonderful senior named Henna Ayub, head of UVA's Afghan Students Association, organized a discussion about drug trafficking in Afghanistan. Henna, whose family came to the United States from Kandahar, Afghanistan put the event together after she saw VOA's documentary "A Fateful Harvest" on YouTube. (check it out!) More than 30 people came out to discuss how VOA covers Afghanistan -- particularly the war on drugs. Beth Mendelson, chief of VOA's Afghan Service, talked about VOA's ability to gain access to health clinics and drug busts -- and capture it all on tape.

Henna, who wants to be a doctor, brought her family, including her wonderful mother, who cooked delicious Afghan food for the occasion.

Visiting schools and colleges is one of the best parts of working in public relations for VOA. When you meet energetic, resourceful, engaged students like Henna and her friends, you realize how many talented people live in this country.

If you'd like VOA to visit your school, please email me at jmower@voanews.com

VOA response to Daniel Pipes

If anyone has read the Daniel Pipes piece, here's our response. Thanks! The Voice of America (VOA) regularly provides guidance to our journalists on style and usage to enable writers to communicate with audiences clearly, precisely and consistently. It was in this context that Jennifer Janin wrote to the Urdu Service, reinforcing guidelines in the VOA News Stylebook, which is updated regularly. What Mr. Pipes' readers may not know is that VOA is governed by the VOA Charter, which became a law in July 12, 1976 was reiterated in the more recent U.S. International Broadcasting Act of 1994. It mandates the U.S. international broadcaster “will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive.”

VOA reaches an estimated 134 million people around the world in 45 languages by radio, television and Internet. A major reason for our success is our credibility, which reflects our vigorous adherence to the Charter and VOA’s Journalistic
Code, calling for reliable and unbiased reporting.

Finally, Mr. Pipes' comments about Spozhmai Maiwandi are unacceptable.
Ms. Maiwandi, director of VOA's Southeast Asia Division, is a professional journalist, a loyal American citizen and a longtime, valued employee of the Voice of America.

Joan Mower

Director, public relations

Voice of America