Los Angeles TV Station to Broadcast October 7 Presidential Debate Live in Chinese

Los Angeles TV Station to Broadcast October 7 Presidential Debate Live in Chinese

Part of Series to Help Increase Asian Voter Turnout

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- LA 18 KSCI-TV, Southern California's #1 Asian TV station, is broadcasting the October 7 Presidential debate LIVE, with simultaneous Chinese (Mandarin) translation. The program will air on October 7, 2008, from 6pm to 8pm, and includes analysis by LA 18's own news team and political analysts as well as live call-ins for viewer reaction.

Peter Mathes, chairman of LA 18 parent company AsianMedia Group said, "As the community's trusted media source, we are very proud to play the important role of delivering relevant political news and helping to people to better understand the issues in the presidential campaign. With this live simultaneous translation of the presidential debate, our audiences will be able to watch coverage of the debate in Mandarin at the same time everyone else in the U.S. will. We hope that connecting our viewers directly to American politics like this will help increase their interest and participation."

The broadcast brings information directly to Asian voters and viewers, many of whom, as relative newcomers to the U.S., may not yet have a full understanding of English. By translating the debate live in its entirety and including the Asian American community's unique perspectives, the station seeks to increase political participation in general. There are an estimated 900,000 registered Asian voters in the LA television market, and they have become a significant block of the electorate in the past several elections. Most recently, after the California primary, major media around the country noted that Asian American voters played a decisive role in the final vote.

The live broadcast is part of an election series on LA 18 that includes extensive Election Day coverage and news and talk show specials in 4 Asian languages: Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino (Tagalog). LA 18 has always been on the forefront of educating the Asian American audience on the American political process, ranging from live translations of the annual California State of the State address to regular interviews with the mayor of Los Angeles.

About LA 18 / KSCI-TV

Founded in 1976, LA 18 is Southern California's #1 Asian-language TV station bringing news and entertainment, in 12 languages, to the largest U.S. Asian market -- composed of over 2.5 million Asian consumers. LA 18 airs daily local news in Mandarin, Korean, and Vietnamese and produces daily variety shows in Mandarin and Tagalog. LA 18's over-the-air signal covers 6.3 million TV households in the Los Angeles and San Diego television markets. LA 18 is also a must-carry station on cable systems, DirecTV and DISH Network in the Los Angeles television market. In 2008, LA 18 launched the Suite of Asian Digital Channels, providing 24/7, free over-the-air Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese and Armenian Channels to the community. For more information, please visit http://www.la18.tv/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: LA 18 KSCI-TV

CONTACT: Eric Olander of LA 18 KSCI-TV, +1-310-478-1818,
eolander@la18.tv

Web site: http://www.la18.tv/

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Profile: International Entertainment