“We expect this station to serve our people impartially and to inform us – not just with news – but with balanced reports and knowledge,” Somaliland President Dahir Rayale Kahin said as he welcomed VOA’s new broadcast.
The launch of 88.0 FM brought together journalists, government officials, opposition members and civil society activists who gathered afterwards for a discussion entitled, “A Free Press in a Democracy.”
Panelists praised the gains in independent media, but said challenges remain. Faisal Ali Sheikh, chairman of Jamhuriya newspaper, opposed pending legislation that would require the Ministry of Information to review advertisements.
“The media should lobby against the amendment … which is aimed at restricting the freedom of the press,” Ali Sheikh said. Other panelists included Su’as Hussein Hagi Elmi, a female activist and Mohamoud Hussain Farah, dean of Hargeisa Univesity’s Department of Law.
During an interview with VOA’s Somali service, Somaliland’s main opposition leader, Ahmed Mohammed Silanyo, also expressed his appreciation for the new station. “We are happy to see the Voice of American launch this FM station which will help the people of Somaliland,” Silanyo said.
VOA Hargeisa 88.0 will air 24 hours of VOA programs daily. The broadcast stream includes three and half hours of news and features from VOA’s Somali service along with popular English news, discussion and music programs such as World News Now, Daybreak Africa, Hip Hop Connection and Music Mix. Besides Somali, VOA also broadcasts in English and 11 other languages throughout Africa. More information is available at www.VOANews.com/Somali and www.VOAAfrica.com
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 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 125 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages. VOA is the leading U.S. international broadcaster.
For more information, please call VOA Public Relations at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail [email protected].
Originally published at https://www.insidevoa.com/a/a-13-34-2009-10-14-voa47-111615424/178473.html
