WHAT: Interview Mehrnaz Samimi, a television broadcaster with the Voice of America’s (VOA) Persian News Network (PNN) about why Nowruz, the beginning of the calendar year in Iran, is a significant holiday in her native country.
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WHEN: Mehrnaz Samimi is available by telephone, 202-382-5238, or by email, msamimi@voanews.com . When sending email, please include “Nowruz” in the subject line.She is also available for on-camera interviews by contacting VOA Public Relations, 202-203-4959 or askvoa@voanews.com
WHERE: Mehrnaz Samimi is based at VOA’s studios in Washington, D.C.
WHO: Born and raised inTehran, Iran, Mehrnaz Samimi is an expert in the culture and traditions of Iran. Before leaving her home country three years ago, she worked as a journalist and an interpreter in Iran. She has also taught English, and worked in film.
WHY: Nowruz is celebrated in Iran and parts of Central and South Asia. President Obama took the occasion of Nowruz to offer Iran’s leaders a new beginning in relations between the two countries.
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 134 million people.Programs are produced in 45 languages.