News Center Segment on Ethiopian Peace Deal Widely Shared, Republished
When the announcement of a peace deal and a cease-fire between warring parties in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region was reached November 3, VOA News Center editor Salem Solomon wrote a story looking at reactions from world leaders. Solomon later collaborated with VOA stringer Fred Harter, who filed a newscast from Addis Ababa with additional comments. The story was shared by the Africa Defense Forum magazine, a quarterly publication by U.S. Africa Command, featured on the University of Pittsburgh's African Studies and African Country Resources' website, and shared by the U.K.'s Africa Research Centre, a post-conflict research center. It has also been republished by news aggregators including AllAfrica, OneNewsPage, Tanzania's Muhabarishaji News, South Africa's kby.za.net, on NewsEverything, The Diplomatic World and Nigeria's Tunng Media.
VOA Interview with Nigerian Presidential Candidate Generates Significant Viewership, Cited by Outlets While in Washington, D.C. for meetings at the U.S. State Department and U.S. Institute of Peace, Nigeria’s main opposition presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, visited VOA for on-camera interviews in English and Hausa. Abubakar discussed strengthening the economy, insecurity, and his presidential aspirations. Across all digital platforms, the Hausa interview generated nearly 600k video views and more than 43k engagements and was cited by BBC News Pidgin, Daily Trust, Sahara Reporters, and Daily Post. This interview is one of many Nigerian presidential candidate interviews VOA is conducting ahead of elections.
VOA Interviews U.S. Lawmakers on Political Support for Ukraine Ahead of U.S. Midterms
Addressing the audience’s keen interest in the impact of the upcoming U.S. midterm elections on U.S. commitment to Ukraine, VOA Ukrainian’s coverage featured exclusive interviews with Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), as well as comments by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Rob Portman (R-OH) during an unannounced visit to Kyiv, all of whom expressed confidence that the United States will continue to show bipartisan support for Ukraine regardless of the outcome of the midterms. Coverage garnered more than 62,000 views and over 4,000 interactions on digital platforms and was quoted at least seven times in the Ukrainian media.
VOA Afghan Report About Exiled Journalist Generates Half Million Views
VOA Afghan service spoke with Mina Akbari, one of hundreds of journalists who have fled Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover. Having relocated to neighboring Pakistan, Akbari spoke of hardships of life in exile, particularly her unemployment and psychological stress. “When I watch my previous televised programs and now see my unemployment, it hurts me,” the former journalist working for Shamshad TV told VOA. Her journalist brother Noorullah also shared his violent encounters with the Taliban that compelled him to leave the country. The VOA Afghan report generated 518,000 views and 31,000 reactions on Facebook.
VOA Mandarin’s Interview with Renowned Sinologist Generates Notable Audience Interest
VOA Mandarin’s interview with prominent American Sinologist, Eugene Perry Link, boosted traffic across all digital platforms significantly, with 355,000 views on Twitter alone. Link said Xi Jinping is repeating the mistakes of the past by embracing Maoist ideals of governing China. Mao’s radical ‘Great Leap Forward' resulted in a devastating famine and the deaths of millions, but Link said communist China’s first leader was smarter and more inspiring than its current one - calling Xi narrow-minded and his nationalism terrifying.
VOA Persian’s Coverage of UN Security Council Meeting on Iran Engages Audience
VOA Persian covered the UN Security Council’s meeting on the violent suppression of protesters in Iran. Actress and human rights activist Nazanin Boniardi and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi testified. Hamideh Aramideh’s special program: “Trials and Intimidation of Protesters and the UN Security Council meeting” featured human rights lawyer Saeid Dehghan and Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha, who said, “the human rights situation in Iran is catastrophic… it is very important to raise this in the most important body of the Security Council.” Total audience engagement on digital platforms surpassed 1,495,756.
VOA Programming Highlights are compiled based on information available from multiple sources at the time of posting. This information constantly evolves. If you intend to cite to information posted in VOA Highlights, please consult VOA Public Relations at publicrelations@voanews.com to ensure it is accurate and current.