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BBC Screen Shot 2015-04-02 at 1:59 PM ET
BBC offers LIVE VIDEO: EU-Iran Statement following conclusion of Iran’s nuclear talks, NO LIVE VIDEO or instant updates on Voice of America English website
U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America English news website had no live video of the EU-Iran statements following conclusion of Iran’s nuclear talks and was not updating its report which was introduced on the VOA homepage: [VOA] “Joint statement by Iran, EU officials will say [Emphasis added.] enough progress has been reached to continue negotiations toward final deadline of June 30.”
At the same time, BBC website was carrying the EU and Iran statements live and providing updates.
Russia’s RT posted a separate report on President Obama’s statement. As of 3:08 PM ET, the Voice of America has not. VOA carried President Obama’s statement live, but no longer has a link to a video. RT had a video link.
VOA, however, now says that it will have President Obama’s statement on the deal live on its website.
CONFIRMED: VOA website is indeed now streaming President Obama’s remarks live at 2:26PM ET.
UPDATE: President Obama’s remarks are not being streamed live on the BBC website.
While VOA updated its report with three sentences on what President Obama said, it did not provide a separate report on his remarks and did not change the headline.
VOA: U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking from the White House Rose Garden Thursday, said the U.S. has reached a “historic understanding with Iran,” and called the agreement “a good deal, a deal that meets our core objective” of keeping Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.
Obama said that while the key details will be finalized over the next three months, he outlined the basics of the agreement.
He said the deal reached between Iran and the six world powers would keep Iran from being able to pursue a bomb either using plutonium or enriched uranium, and that it was the best possible defense to Tehran covertly obtaining a nuclear bomb.
BBC:
‘Unprecedented verification’
US President Barack Obama welcomed the “historic understanding” that had been reached with Iran.
He said its implementation would be closely watched. “If Iran cheats, the world will know it,” he said, adding that the deal was based not on trust but on “unprecedented verification”.
He said the framework agreement had come after “months of tough, principled diplomacy”, and that it was “a good deal”.
Under its terms, Iran would reduce its stored centrifuges by two thirds, and be prevented from developing weapons-grade plutonium, he said.
In return there would be a “phased” listing of sanctions against Iran.
And US Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted: “Big day… Back to work soon on final deal.”
While VOA still does not have a separate report on President Obama’s statement, Russia’s RT does.
RT Screen Shot 2015-04-02 at 3:01 PM ET
Obama: Historic deal reached on Iran nuclear program | RT
As of 3:05 PM ET, Russia’s RT report, “Obama: Historic deal reached on Iran nuclear program | RT” is showing 637 Facebook “Likes.”
VOA Screen Shot 2015-04-02 at 2:01 PM ET
The conclusion of Iran’s nuclear talks was not even the number one news story on the VOA English website while the EU and Iran statements were read live in Lausanne, Switzerland. The number one story on the VOA website was the Al-Shabab attack in Kenya.
At the time the statements were read, the Voice of America website was still presenting the outdated Iran nuclear talks story as “FEATURED STORY” on the right side.
VOA eventually made the conclusion of the Iran’s nuclear talks its top story at about 2:00 PM ET. It happened after the joint EU-Iran statement was already made. But even then, VOA still failed to update the wording about the statement on its homepage.
As of 2:05 PM ET Thursday, the VOA story is still not updated on the homepage, where it still says that “Joint statement by Iran, EU officials will say enough progress has been reached to continue negotiations toward final deadline of June 30.”
The actual report, however, now says (2:05 PM ET) — although not anywhere near the top: “Western and Iranian officials said in a joint statement that enough progress had been reached to allow further negotiations until a final deadline of June 30.”