Broadcasting from a new studio, the first daily program will focus on the universal concept of human rights and democracy. Guests will include Azar Nafisi, author of the best-selling book Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books and a Visiting Fellow and lecturer at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC.; Elahe Hicks, a New York-based human rights activist; and Amir Abbas Fakhravar, who was jailed as a student in Iran for demonstrating for human rights and freedom of speech.
"This new daily, 60-minute format will allow us to cover in depth even more topics of interest to our Iranian audience," said Baharloo.
During its first week as a daily program, Mizegerdi ba Shoma also plans to interview filmmaker Joseph Akrami about his documentary focusing on former Iranian political prisoners; Abbas Maroufi, a writer and journalist who will discuss the brain drain in Iran; and Omid Omidvar, on the role of Internet news in mass communication.
On June 15, Mizegerdi ba Shoma goes on the road to Berlin, Germany, to cover the first round of the World Cup finals. VOA's Baharloo will host the show live from Germany as 32 teams, including the United States and Iran, compete for the World Cup.
VOA broadcasts via satellite several Persian language TV programs to Iran. Mizegerdi ba Shoma (Roundtable With You), now a daily program, is an interview and call-in program; Khabarha va Nazarha (News and Views) is a daily one-hour news show; and Fasle Digar (Next Chapter) is a weekly 30-minute youth-oriented newsmagazine show. Negahi Faratar (Looking Ahead) is a live, monthly, 60-minute show focusing on human rights and the democratic movement in Iran. VOA's television shows complement VOA Persian's daily radio broadcasts and Radio Farda, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, youth-oriented radio program that is a joint project of VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. VOA's Persian language Internet site is at www.VOANews.com/persian.
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 100 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages.
For more information, call the Office of Public Affairs at (202) 203-4959, or E-Mail publicaffairs@voa.gov.
