Alhurra and Radio Sawa Cover the Arab League Summit
Springfield, Va. — Alhurra Television and Radio Sawa will have extensive coverage of the Arab League Summit being held in Baghdad on March 29, 2012. Alhurra’s live coverage will begin at 5:00 (all times GMT) and continue through 21:00. Radio Sawa will extend selected newscasts to provide comprehensive coverage of the Summit.
Alhurra’s reporters will be live in Baghdad to provide updates from the Iraqi capital. Alhurra will also examine the historical significance of this Summit, the first since the Arab Spring, including a look at the Arab leaders who were once a staple of previous summits, but are no longer in power. The television network will also discuss the Syrian crisis’ impact on the Summit. Alhurra’s extensive coverage plans to incorporate social media, by asking the audience what are their expectations of this Arab League Summit. Each hour, different viewers’ comments will be highlighted to include their thoughts on air.
Radio Sawa will also provide in-depth coverage of the Arab League Summit, with reaction from Iraq as well as the entire region. Radio Sawa will look at the significance of hosting the Arab League Summit in Iraq, including interviews with Iraqi officials and citizens in Baghdad. The radio network will highlight Iraq’s preparations to host the Arab League Summit including security and the expectations from the Summit.
Recent surveys of the Middle East by research companies such as ACNielsen show that together Alhurra and Radio Sawa have an unduplicated weekly reach of an estimated 35 million adults.
Alhurra is broadcast on the Nilesat and Arabsat satellites in the Middle East and the Hotbird satellite system in Europe. Alhurra is operated by the non-profit corporation “The Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc.” (MBN). MBN is financed by the U.S. Government through a grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent federal agency. The BBG serves oversight and as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters. For more information on Alhurra go to www.alhurra.com
MBN also operates Radio Sawa which seeks to effectively communicate with the youthful population of Arabic-speakers in the Middle East by providing up-to-date news, information and a mix of Western and Arabic popular music on its 24/7 FM and medium wave radio stations throughout the region. Its secondary target audience is news-seekers of all ages. Radio Sawa is committed to broadcasting accurate, timely and relevant news about the Middle East, the world and the United States, to the highest standards of journalism, as well as the free marketplace of ideas.
Radio Sawa broadcasts on FM in Morocco, Sudan, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestinian Territories, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, U.A.E., Iraq and Djibouti. Radio Sawa broadcasts on medium wave to Egypt, Yemen and Sudan. Radio Sawa streams its programming at its all-news Web site www.radiosawa.com.