With the U.S. presidential elections taking greater prominence in news around the world, Voice of America is launching a new initiative focused on explaining the U.S. election cycle. VOA’s 48 language services will cover the U.S. elections in a way the government-funded international news organization calls “audience-focused, explanatory, and non-partisan.”
The centerpiece of VOA’s coverage will be a series of more than 100 graphics-intensive special reports explaining the U.S. political system for international audiences. Topics covered in “The Explainer” series features photos, video, infographics, visual explainers, animation, and mixed media content to illustrate parts of the U.S. system of elections that are unique.
“This is the kind of coverage that VOA News is best equipped to provide,” said John Lippman, Acting Director of VOA Programming. “Our reporting will allow audiences around the world to better understand how the U.S. picks its president and should eliminate misinformation in the current election cycle.”
Explainer reports include important while obscure aspects of the U.S. electoral structure, including:
- Famous US presidential debate moments
- Unpacking US campaign spending
- The history of political slogans
- The cost of US elections explained
- Why do left and right have political meaning?
- What does it mean to be a red state or a blue state?
- Can anybody be president of the United States?
- What is an executive order?
- The history of US Republican Party
- The history of the US Democratic Party
- What is a ‘third-party’ candidate?
- From immigration to citizenship: When is an immigrant allowed to vote in a US election?
- What is the Difference Between a Caucus and a Primary
- How Republicans and Democrats got their animal symbols
- What is a Nominating Convention?
- How Third Party Candidates Can Swing a US Election
Additional explainers will be released weekly until the U.S. presidential election in November, accompanying VOA daily coverage of the campaign and major election-related events, including the U.S. presidential debates and political conventions.
VOA’s election content is available in multiple formats for broadcast, web and social media and on affiliated broadcasters and sites around the world. Coverage is also found on www.voanews.com in multiple languages, including English.
Voice of America reaches a weekly global audience of more than 354 million people in 48 languages in nearly 100 countries via radio, television, web and mobile media and a network of more than 3,500 affiliates, accounting for the bulk of the USAGM audience.
