President Barack Obama will deliver his State of the Union address on February 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Washington, D.C. – President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address and the Republican response by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio tomorrow night will be simulcast around the globe via BBG broadcasters, bringing news of this fundamental element of U.S. democracy to key audiences in Iran, Cuba, Syria, Egypt, and other high priority countries via radio, television and the Internet.
Voice of America’s 43 language services will have comprehensive coverage of the President’s address and the Republican response. On top of that, VOA’s Persian Service will present a live special TV broadcast with simultaneous translation, along with follow-up reaction and analysis.
Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa will provide coverage and simultaneous translations of the speech in Arabic to audiences in the Middle East and North Africa, with reports from correspondents at the White House and Congress. The networks will provide reactions from the Middle East, along with both pre- and post speech analysis from American political experts.
For Cuban audiences, Radio and TV Martí will also air the speech and response with simulcast Spanish translations, and will follow with a half-hour live special with political analysts in Washington, Miami and Puerto Rico.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty will provide comprehensive coverage, including discussions prior to the speech, real-time coverage, and analysis immediately after.
VOA English will have a 2 ½-hour live special multimedia program that will carry the President’s speech and Republican response in full, followed by reporting and immediate reaction from Capitol Hill and elsewhere. A VOA reporting team will be positioned to conduct live interviews with lawmakers from the Capitol’s Statuary Hall as well as from the Russell Senate Office Building. Audiences will be engaged in discussion through social media platforms.
In addition,VOA will live stream the Tuesday night event across all of its 43 language services and will provide live reporting via partnerships with local media in countries including Russia, Bosnia, Albania, Ukraine, Indonesia, Cambodia and countries throughout Latin America.
