Implementation Strategies at Work
Build on BBG Reach and Impact Within
the Muslim World
VOA Urdu Documentary Explores Effects
of Extremism and Terrorism
VOA Urdu produced a 16-minute
documentary examining the relationship
between extremism and terrorism, and how
they have affected the lives of people in
United States and Pakistan since 9/11. The
special program explored questions that
U.S. policy makers and terror experts are
trying to answer, drawing on interviews
with influential experts.
Employ Modern Communications
Techniques and Technologies
RFA Multi-Platform, Multi-Language
Reports Feature Mekong River
In late October, Radio Free Asia launched
a special report on the Mekong River in
preparation for December’s climate
change talks in Copenhagen. RFA’s team
has begun traveling 2,700 miles from the
Tibetan plateau to the Vietnamese delta, shooting video and photos, blogging and
tweeting in Tibetan, Mandarin, Burmese,
Lao, Khmer and Vietnamese, as well as
English. Special Web pages feature
stories and an interactive map, videos,
slideshows, fact sheets and quizzes.
Facilitate Citizen Discourse
RFE/RL Tajik Service Examines Lives of
Afghan Refugees
In October, RFE/RL’s Tajik service
broadcast an in-depth look at the lives of
Afghan refugees in Tajikistan. The United
Nations has stated that Tajikistan is going
to need more international help as the
conflict across the border worsens. Tajik
Service reporters met with several Afghan
refugees and published online a photo
gallery of their homes.
RFA Mandarin Broadcasts Spur Action on
Religious Freedom
RFA’s Mandarin Service reported that a
high school student in Xinjiang was
expelled from a Han Chinese military
school because he refused to renounce
Christianity. “I offered to resign from the
[Communist Youth League], but said I would
hold on to my beliefs as allowed in the
Constitution of the People’s Republic of
China,” he said. Following RFA’s report,
the school reinstated Chen.
Juanita Castro Visits OCB
Both Radio and TV Marti interviewed
Juanita Castro, the sister of Fidel and Raul
Castro, about her book, The Secret Story of
My Brothers, Fidel and Raul. The piece
aired on radio, television and the Web.
Engage the World in Conversation
About America
RFE/RL Interviews Vice President Biden
During Visit to Prague
On October 23, Vice President Joe Biden
told RFE/RL that “America wants to hit the
reset button with Russia, not the memoryerase
button,” and that the U.S. would not
tolerate Russian spheres of influence. To
Radio Farda’s audience in Iran, Biden said
the administration is not ignoring concerns
about democracy and human rights. In
advance of Biden’s visit, RFE/RL also held
an exclusive interview with former Czech
President Vaclav Havel, who told listeners
that he expected Biden, “to articulate, in a
new way, America’s interest in this region.”
Alhurra and VOA Talk to Secretary of
State Clinton
Alhurra’s State Department correspondent
interviewed Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton during her tour of the Middle East. She discussed the peace process and the
political situation in Lebanon in comments
picked up by press throughout the Middle
East. Clinton spoke to VOA in advance of
President Obama’s trip to Asia and
dismissed charges by activists that the
United States has refused to raise
persistent human rights abuses with the
Chinese Government.
Preserve Credibility and Ensure
Overall Programming Excellence
RFE/RL Kazakh Team Wins Online News
Association Award
The Online News Association (ONA) gave
RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service an award for
excellence in online journalism for
“standing in defense of citizens’ rights to
seek and receive information” and for
“good original journalism and tenacity of
purpose.” According to the ONA, this
year’s Online Journalism Award winners
“will get a unique kind of immortality,”
enshrined in a new exhibit at the Newseum
in Washington.
VOA and RFE/RL Journalists Honored
The Ukrainian news magazine Focus named
Myroslava Gongadze, host of VOA
Ukrainian’s Chas-Time, in its annual list of
the “100 most influential women of
Ukraine”. Diana Railean, Valentina Ursu,
and Vitalie Enache, Chisinau-based
journalists for RFE/RL’s Moldova Service,
received the Eurasia Foundation’s
Journalism Prize in October. They were
honored for proving the most “balanced”
and “comprehensive” coverage of the
elections this year.