http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020205/en/television-powell_1.html
Secretary of State Powell sets MTV chat
By Pamela McClintock
WASHINGTON (Variety) - MTV viewers and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) will have an unusual heart-to-heart on Valentine's Day (news - web sites), when the music network will host a global town forum packing tough questions for the top diplomat.
MTV channels in the U.S., India, the Middle East, Italy, U.K./Ireland, Brazil, Russia and elsewhere are hosting the 60-minute special ``Be Heard: An MTV Global Discussion With Colin Powell.''
The show will be taped the morning of Feb. 14 before a studio audience in Washington, airing at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) that evening in the U.S. and at various times elsewhere around the world, MTV said Monday. Powell's hosts in Washington will be MTV News' John Norris and Gideon Yago.
Questions will be posed by kids gathering at MTV locations around the globe, with MTV News correspondents and VJs guiding the Q&A with Powell via satellite. VJs in each territory are bilingual and will translate viewers' questions to Powell, who will field the questions from a Washington facility to be determined.
MTV is hardly a natural venue for members of the Bush administration, but in Washington's new campaign to win the hearts and minds of the world, it's hard to resist the allure of the music cable network's impressive reach.
MTV's forum was arranged independently of Hollywood's special wartime committee. But it nevertheless jibes nicely with a pledge by the entertainment/media biz to do what it can to open up a dialogue between the U.S. and other countries, particularly in the Middle East.
Reuters/Variety REUTERS
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/ dave /