Build on BBG Reach and Impact Within the Muslim World
VOA Urdu Documentary Explores Effects of Extremism and Terrorism
VOA Urdu produced a 16-minute documentary examining the relationship between extremism and terrorism, and how they have affected the lives of people in United States and Pakistan since 9/11. The special program explored questions that U.S. policy makers and terror experts are trying to answer, drawing on interviews with influential experts.

Employ Modern Communications Techniques and Technologies
RFA Multi-Platform, Multi-Language Reports Feature Mekong River
In late October, Radio Free Asia launched a special report on the Mekong River in preparation for December's climate change talks in Copenhagen. RFA's team has begun traveling 2,700 miles from the Tibetan plateau to the Vietnamese delta, shooting video and photos, blogging and tweeting in Tibetan, Mandarin, Burmese, Lao, Khmer and Vietnamese, as well as English. Special Web pages feature stories and an interactive map, videos, slideshows, fact sheets and quizzes.

Facilitate Citizen Discourse
RFE/RL Tajik Service Examines Lives of Afghan Refugees
In October, RFE/RL's Tajik service broadcast an in-depth look at the lives of Afghan refugees in Tajikistan. The United Nations has stated that Tajikistan is going to need more international help as the conflict across the border worsens. Tajik Service reporters met with several Afghan refugees and published online a photo gallery of their homes.

RFA Mandarin Broadcasts Spur Action on Religious Freedom
RFA's Mandarin Service reported that a high school student in Xinjiang was expelled from a Han Chinese military school because he refused to renounce Christianity. "I offered to resign from the [Communist Youth League], but said I would hold on to my beliefs as allowed in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China," he said. Following RFA's report, the school reinstated Chen.

Juanita Castro Visits OCB
Both Radio and TV Marti interviewed Juanita Castro, the sister of Fidel and Raul Castro, about her book, The Secret Story of My Brothers, Fidel and Raul. The piece aired on radio, television and the Web.

Engage the World in Conversation About America
RFE/RL Interviews Vice President Biden During Visit to Prague
On October 23, Vice President Joe Biden told RFE/RL that "America wants to hit the reset button with Russia, not the memoryerase button," and that the U.S. would not tolerate Russian spheres of influence. To Radio Farda's audience in Iran, Biden said the administration is not ignoring concerns about democracy and human rights. In advance of Biden's visit, RFE/RL also held an exclusive interview with former Czech President Vaclav Havel, who told listeners that he expected Biden, "to articulate, in a new way, America's interest in this region."

Alhurra and VOA Talk to Secretary of State Clinton
Alhurra's State Department correspondent interviewed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her tour of the Middle East. She discussed the peace process and the political situation in Lebanon in comments picked up by press throughout the Middle East. Clinton spoke to VOA in advance of President Obama's trip to Asia and dismissed charges by activists that the United States has refused to raise persistent human rights abuses with the Chinese Government.

Preserve Credibility and Ensure Overall Programming Excellence
RFE/RL Kazakh Team Wins Online News Association Award
The Online News Association (ONA) gave RFE/RL's Kazakh Service an award for excellence in online journalism for "standing in defense of citizens' rights to seek and receive information" and for "good original journalism and tenacity of purpose." According to the ONA, this year's Online Journalism Award winners "will get a unique kind of immortality," enshrined in a new exhibit at the Newseum in Washington.

VOA and RFE/RL Journalists Honored
The Ukrainian news magazine Focus named Myroslava Gongadze, host of VOA Ukrainian's Chas-Time, in its annual list of the "100 most influential women of Ukraine". Diana Railean, Valentina Ursu, and Vitalie Enache, Chisinau-based journalists for RFE/RL's Moldova Service, received the Eurasia Foundation's Journalism Prize in October. They were honored for proving the most "balanced" and "comprehensive" coverage of the elections this year.