True to its mission to engage and connect audiences around the world, the Voice of America treated its audience to one-of-a-kind televised panel discussions this election cycle.
Seventeen immigrant American voters from at least a dozen different diaspora communities were invited to participate in post-presidential-debate televised discussion panels at the VOA studios, after the second and third debates of this year’s presidential candidates, to offer their candid impressions of the debate and the issues contemplated by the American electorate. Some of the participants were thinking of voting for Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and some were thinking of voting for her opponent, Republican Party candidate, Donald Trump, while some were undecided.
Here's a photo-gallery from the two panel discussions:
VOA Hosts Discussions with Immigrant Voters Following Presidential Debates
As their title “The world is watching” suggests, the programs also invited VOA’s worldwide audience to weigh in via social media. Although it originated in English, the shows were also translated and simulcast in four other languages: Spanish, Russian, Mandarin and Farsi. Tens of thousands of people watched via Facebook Live and livestream on voanews.com.
“America is a great country it comes with a lot of positives and not just with the negatives he [Trump] is referring to. For somebody to stand up there and tell the world of how America is broken and that it needs to be made great again, is an indication that he’s not looking at America at the moment at how America is,” said studio participant Kader Gumus Sandoval originally from Turkey. On immigration, “I think Donald Trump was more correct. The strategy we need to follow is to secure the border,” noted participant Jose Vistoso originally from Chile. “The next president should focus on restoration of human rights, reduction of poverty, climate change,” commented Dhirendra Sah through Twitter.