Al Jazeera Media Network to air First-Ever Live Broadcast of Global Town Hall Debate with UN Secretary-General Candidates on Tuesday, July 12th

• Global Town Hall Presented by Al Jazeera Media Network as the selected broadcast partner of the UN
• Al Jazeera will Broadcast Live from the UN General Assembly Hall on TV, Online and Multiple  Digital Platforms across Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Arabic, Al Jazeera Mubashar, Al Jazeera Balkans and AJ+
• A Site Dedicated to Special Features in Connection with the Historic Event will launch 12thJuly on www.aljazeera.com
• Pre-Debate Coverage Begins 1800EDT

Doha – 6th July, 2016

Al Jazeera Media Network (Al Jazeera) in partnership with the President of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Mogens Lykketoft, will broadcast the first-ever internationally televised live UN leaders’ debate titled: “Leading the United Nations: A Global Town Hall with UN Secretary-General Candidates” on Tuesday, 12 July 2016, from 18:00EDT (or 6:00 pm EDT) – 21:00EDT  (or 9:00 pm EDT)/22:00GMT- 01:00GMT.

This year, UN Member States and the people they represent will have the opportunity to ask their questions directly to the men and women competing to become the next UN Secretary General.

• Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna will present the 30-minute, pre-debate show, beginning at 18:00 EDT;  and
• Al Jazeera’s James Bays and Folly Bah Thibault will present the Town Hall debates from the UN General Assembly Hall in front of a live audience including diplomats, observers, civil society, and UN Staff, among others.  It begins at 18:30 EDT.

As the selected broadcast partner of the UN, Al Jazeera will broadcast, stream and report on this historic event across its global broadcast and digital platforms on Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Arabic, Al Jazeera Mubashar, Al Jazeera Balkans and AJ+. The debate will be carried on all digital (including mobile) platforms of Al Jazeera English including being live streamed on Youtube.com. Additionally, AJ+, Al Jazeera’s digital social video platform, will host the debate on Facebook Live. Al Jazeera will also offer the live feed to UN Television and other media carriers throughout the world. 

There will also be a special landing page on aljazeera.com, launching 12th July hosting articles, opinion pieces and interactive features ahead of the Town Hall. When the live broadcast begins, Al Jazeera journalists will shoot and post a range of photo and video content as well as live tweet and post on Facebook. 

Abdulla Al Najjar, Al Jazeera’s Executive Director of Global Brand and Communications, said: “It is a testament to the exceptional quality and broad global reach of our platforms that Al Jazeera Media Network was chosen to partner with the UN to host this historic event. For the first-time ever, worldwide audiences will be able to watch, listen and follow the UN Town Hall Debate outlining candidates’ visions on the future impact of the UN on the lives of seven billion people in the countries it represents. The candidates for this crucial role will discuss the issues that are having devastating effects around the world from civil wars and terrorism to refugees fleeing their homes, catastrophic climate change, and ecological disasters among many others.” 

Al Najjar continued, “Our Network is deeply proud to have the ability to share this critically important event with people around the world, consistent with our focus over the past two decades of giving voice to the voiceless and making our award-winning reporting available to audiences anywhere they are.” 

As part of the ground-breaking changes introduced by the General Assembly last year, the list of candidates for the position has been made public for the first time and can be found on the President of the General Assembly’s website [http://www.un.org/pga/70/sg/].