VOA expands Urdu new broadcasts to Pakistan
WASHINGTON: The Voice of America (VOA)’s Urdu Service has expanded its radio news broadcasts from five to 12.5 hours daily in response to the crisis in Pakistan and because of the blackout of private television networks by the government, which has increased radio listening dramatically.
“The Pakistani government has shut down all independent media inside Pakistan,” said VOA Director Danforth Austin. “We find ourselves, along with the BBC, among the only international broadcasters currently heard inside of Pakistan.” VOA’s Urdu Service is now broadcasting an all-news format on radio in response to the government’s crackdown. VOA’s two television affiliates – GEO News and Aaj TV are off the air in Pakistan. However, VOA continues to reach the audience via radio and the Internet. Another additional Urdu radio broadcast from 11.30am to noon, Pakistan time, was added on Wednesday to supplement the 7pm to 7am, Pakistan time, live news and current affairs programming.
VOA said that some highlights of its recent coverage included live interviews with former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who appeared on the Urdu program Roundtable Discussion, as the news blackout was being imposed in Pakistan. VOA Urdu also interviewed many Pakistani opposition figures, including Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad, in addition to man-on-the-street interviews in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, and Islamabad. Besides VOA Urdu, VOA’s six-hour Deewa Radio, which broadcasts in Pushto to the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, has also switched to an all-news format to cover the crisis.
Source: Daily Times
Date:11/9/2007
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