Hosted by Mohamed El Shinawi, the inaugural one-hour show examined "Human Rights and Democracy in the Arab World."  Mohamed Fayeq, Secretary-General of the Arab Organization for Human Rights and former Egyptian Information Minister; and Dr. Mamoun Fendi, Professor of Political Science at Georgetown University, were the guests. 

During the program, which airs every Tuesday at 1800 UTC (2:00 p.m. Washington time), Mr. Fayeq said, "Arab governments will give a deaf ear to human rights reports as long as they are published locally, but they pay close attention when it is featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times and international radio stations like the VOA."

Hello America  received more than 15 calls during the inaugural broadcast from throughout the Arab world, including Kuwait, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Jordan, and Egypt.  After the show went off the air, calls continued to come in.

This week's topic will be "Islamic Activism in America," with guests from the Council for American Islamic Relations and the American Muslim Council.

In his 22 years at VOA, Hello America host Mohamed El Shinawi has worked in both radio and television.  He has filed a wide variety of reports, including coverage of the Middle East Peace process since 1992.  He has also conducted interviews with newsmakers, experts, and officials such as Yassir Arafat, Shimon Peres, and the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman.