VOA is providing hard-hitting news coverage of Islamic State and terrorism activities in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and other parts of the world on varied platforms – radio, television, online and social media. In addition, it provides coverage of U.S. policies and activities to address the IS threat.

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The Extremism Watch Desk, launched in 2015, pursues content in 20 languages, including Arabic, Kurdish Kurmanji, Kurdish Sorani, Persian, Urdu, Dari, Pashtu, Turkish, Hindi, Uighur, Mandarin, Russian among others, focusing on Islamic State, Al-Qaida and other terror and extremist groups. The desk produces original content on extremism and terrorism around the globe. Content is also translated and adapted from other VOA language services into English and is shared with VOA’s 47 language services, the VOA News Center and colleagues at other USAGM networks such as MBN, RFE/RL and RFA.

Initially focused on IS and Al-Qaida, over the years the Extremism Watch Desk has expanded to cover other designated terrorist and extremist groups around the world, including South and Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa regions.

The Extremism Watch Desk produces timely original and comprehensive stories on violent extremism trends and how various communities around the world respond to the challenge of violent extremism. It takes an in-depth look at the stories behind the headlines to give audiences what most Western media do not report.