VOA Deewa and Urdu's Coverage of Devastating Floods in Pakistan Generates Millions of Views
As the monsoon season turned deadly in Pakistan, VOA's Deewa and Urdu services provided robust coverage of the developments, drawing attention to the plight of survivors and widespread damage. “My house and all livestock were washed away by the floods,” Fazal Amin of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province told VOA Deewa, adding that he lost his entire dairy business. The displaced flood victims in the Sindh province shared their harrowing stories with VOA's Urdu service as well. The flood-related content over a ten-day period generated more than 14 million views on the services’ social media platforms.
Timely Coverage of Angola Elections Generates Significant Audience Interest
VOA Portuguese on-the-ground reporting of Angola’s general elections with daily coverage and updates on developments, resulted in digital traffic increases. A VOA Portuguese Facebook live from Angola of main opposition party UNITA’s declaration that they would not recognize the National Electoral Commission results received nearly 20k views in the first hour of posting, and nearly 200k views, and 25K+ engagement actions thus far. Several Angolan outlets reached out for VOA Portuguese content and on-the-ground reporter Mayra de Lassalette joined a Monocle Magazine radio program to update audiences on the situation in the region.
VOA Coverage of Ukraine’s Independence Day Resonates with Audiences
Hundreds of thousands tuned in to VOA’s multiplatform coverage of Ukraine’s Independence Day, which coincided with the six-month anniversary of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Coverage featured VOA Russian’s special Current Time America episode; two livestreamed UNSC meetings; a web project on U.S. sanctions against Russia; timelines of the U.S. response to Russian aggression; packages on U.S. help to Ukraine and the EU response; and unique insights from experts on the impact of the war on Russia’s economy and society, the possibility of a war of attrition, and the main propaganda narratives of the war. Reporters went live from a White House rally in support of Ukraine. VOA Ukrainian's coverage included the official opening of "Ukrainian Way," in Brooklyn, a Ukrainian Vyshyvanka run in NYC, and an exclusive interview with Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova.
Former Indonesian Vice President Discusses Jakarta’s Role in Mideast Peace Talks in Exclusive Interview
Former VP Jusuf Kalla spoke with VOA Indonesian about Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects, garnering nearly 46,000 views within hours on Instagram alone. Kalla said if Indonesia wants to reconcile Palestine and Israel, it must get to know each side. He emphasized Indonesia stands with the Palestinians, but urged Jakarta to have talks with Israel. Kalla stressed that he is not rushing to encourage Indonesia to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel, but he said Jakarta would certainly do so if Israel recognizes Palestinian statehood.
Coverage of Nicaragua’s Persecution of Media and the Catholic Church, Popular in Digital Platforms
Mexican journalist Otoniel Martínez, who went undercover to report on Nicaragua’s crises, told exiled VOA correspondent Donaldo Hernandez he felt fear after police detained him and erased video from his devices. The story generated 109K views and was August’s top tweet for VOA Spanish. In addition, Anthoni Belchi’s explainer on Monsignor Rolando Alvarez’s arrest, who has criticized President Daniel Ortega, got more than 73K views on YouTube. In a fact-checking article, claims by Ortega sympathizer and American journalist Benjamin Rubinstein that there wasn’t repression against the Catholic Church were labeled misleading. The story garnered 26.6K views across social media platforms.
VOA Persian's Coverage of Final Leg of "March for PS752 Justice" Engages the Audience
VOA Persian's Ramin Haghjoo and Ramin Barzegar, traveled to Ottawa, Canada to cover the 250-mile "March for PS752 Justice," organized by members of the Ukrainian flight victims' families. The goal was to deliver a protest letter to Prime Minister Trudeau's office demanding that Canada’s government designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran as a terrorist organization and pursue the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 case against Iran in the International Court of Justice. Mehrzad Zarei, who lost his son in the crash said, “My objection is to Canada's appeasement of Iran.” Audience engagement on digital platforms related to this coverage surpassed 1,540,650.
VOA's Coverage of IMF's Bailout for Pakistan, Cited by Regional Publications
An article by reporter Sarah Zaman was cited with credit to VOA by ANI, the biggest television news agency in India. The article, in which Zaman set the stage for an IMF board meeting Monday to decide on a critical bailout for Pakistan, was also cited by Pakistan’s Pak Tribune news site. The ANI article appeared in other outlets including Dev Discourse. Zaman followed up with another article on Monday when the loan was approved.
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