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'''RT America''' is a U.S.-based [[pay television]]{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} news channel which is part of the [[RT (TV network)|RT network]], a global multilingual television news network based in [[Moscow]], Russia, funded by the [[Government of Russia|Russian government]].<ref name="DFRL">{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/dfrlab/question-that-rts-military-mission-4c4bd9f72c88|title=Question That: RT's Military Mission: Assessing Russia Today's role as an "information weapon"|via=Medium|publisher=[[Atlantic Council]], Digital Forensic Research Lab|date=January 7, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Ioffe">{{cite magazine|url=https://archives.cjr.org/feature/what_is_russia_today.php|author=Julia Ioffe|title=What Is Russia Today? The Kremlin's propaganda outlet has an identity crisis|magazine=Columbia Journalism Review|year=September–October 2010}}</ref>
'''[NOTE: This article is chalk full of biased and unproven leftist opinions] RT America''' is a U.S.-based [[pay television]]{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} news channel which is part of the [[RT (TV network)|RT network]], a global multilingual television news network based in [[Moscow]], Russia, funded by the [[Government of Russia|Russian government]].<ref name="DFRL">{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/dfrlab/question-that-rts-military-mission-4c4bd9f72c88|title=Question That: RT's Military Mission: Assessing Russia Today's role as an "information weapon"|via=Medium|publisher=[[Atlantic Council]], Digital Forensic Research Lab|date=January 7, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Ioffe">{{cite magazine|url=https://archives.cjr.org/feature/what_is_russia_today.php|author=Julia Ioffe|title=What Is Russia Today? The Kremlin's propaganda outlet has an identity crisis|magazine=Columbia Journalism Review|year=September–October 2010}}</ref>


The channel is registered as a "foreign agent" with the [[United States Department of Justice]] under the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] (FARA). A 2017 report by the [[United States Intelligence Community]] characterized RT as "The Kremlin's principal international propaganda outlet" and said that RT America had been set up as an autonomous [[nonprofit organization]] to avoid FARA's registration requirement.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf|title=Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections|publisher=United States Intelligence Community|date=January 6, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Phillip|last=Ewing|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/02/10/514551968/5-things-on-michael-flynn-russia-and-donald-trump|title=5 Things On Michael Flynn, Russia and Donald Trump|publisher=NPR|date=February 10, 2017}}</ref>
The channel is registered as a "foreign agent" with the [[United States Department of Justice]] under the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] (FARA). A 2017 report by the [[United States Intelligence Community]] characterized RT as "The Kremlin's principal international propaganda outlet" and said that RT America had been set up as an autonomous [[nonprofit organization]] to avoid FARA's registration requirement.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf|title=Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections|publisher=United States Intelligence Community|date=January 6, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Phillip|last=Ewing|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/02/10/514551968/5-things-on-michael-flynn-russia-and-donald-trump|title=5 Things On Michael Flynn, Russia and Donald Trump|publisher=NPR|date=February 10, 2017}}</ref>

Revision as of 20:37, 3 August 2019

RT America
CountryUnited States
NetworkRT
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
Programming
Language(s)English
Ownership
Owner(ANO) TV-Novosti
ParentRT

[NOTE: This article is chalk full of biased and unproven leftist opinions] RT America is a U.S.-based pay television[citation needed] news channel which is part of the RT network, a global multilingual television news network based in Moscow, Russia, funded by the Russian government.[1][2]

The channel is registered as a "foreign agent" with the United States Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). A 2017 report by the United States Intelligence Community characterized RT as "The Kremlin's principal international propaganda outlet" and said that RT America had been set up as an autonomous nonprofit organization to avoid FARA's registration requirement.[3][4]

Ownership and funding

RT's parent company, TV-Novosti, is a Russian state-owned organization; "it is almost entirely funded by the state budget, with the exact figure ranging annually between 99.5% and 99.9%."[1]

History

The channel was launched in February 2010 as RT was looking to increase its reach. It was launched along with Rusiya Al-Yaum in 2007, the Spanish language channel RT Actualidad in 2009, and the RT Documentary channel in 2011.[5] RT America has "provided a platform for various fringe or simply false narratives in American public discourse," with guests on the network promoting conspiracy theory that 9/11 was orchestrated by the CIA or the conspiracy theory that the death of Osama bin Laden had been faked.[6] According to the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2014, it has covered the President Barack Obama "birther" conspiracy theory on multiple occasions, including an interview with a white supremacist without noting his allegiance. The channel has featured the Holocaust denier Ryan Dawson as an expert interviewee on numerous issues and occasions without mentioning this fact or any of his other extensive non-mainstream positions.[7][8] According to David Z. Morris, however, in Fortune in 2017: "RT America has been more likely to highlight legitimate but marginalized political perspectives, and further blurs the line between propaganda and commentary by employing respected U.S. journalists such as Chris Hedges, Ed Schultz, and Larry King."[6]

An analysis published in the academic journal Politics in 2015 identified the conspiracy theories spread by RT as a tool of Russian foreign policy, used to legitimize the policies of the Russian government and delegitimize the policies of the American government.[9] During the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign, RT published conspiracy theories about the murder of Seth Rich and other articles to undermine the Hillary Clinton campaign, some of which gained traction on social media.[6]

ODNI Statement on Declassified Intelligence Community Assessment of Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections

The U.S. intelligence services in investigating alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. elections (as did the Obama Administration) have "high confidence" RT was involved in a campaign ordered by Vladimir Putin. The New York Times, reported their findings indicating that "the attack was carried out through the targeted use of real information, some open and some hacked, and the creation of false reports, or 'fake news,' broadcast on state-funded news media like RT and its sibling."[10]

On November 13, 2017, the United States Department of Justice insisted that RT America register as a "foreign agent" under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). On the same day, RT's editor in chief, Margarita Simonyan, said that it would comply with the demand in order to avoid further legal action by the U.S. government, and registered the company as a foreign agent.[11] Under FARA, RT is required to disclose financial information. The network's congressional press credentials were revoked following the network's registration as a foreign agent.[12] RT has compared itself to the BBC and Deutsche Welle, which are not affected by FARA. James Kirchick wrote in The Washington Post in September 2017 that "RT is not a 'news service' in any meaningful sense of the term. Reputable news services don’t employ Illuminati correspondents. RT has no regard whatsoever for basic journalistic values like objectivity or the pursuit of truth."[13] Kirchick was a guest in August 2013 to talk about Chelsea Manning, and used the opportunity to "speak out against the horrific anti-gay legislation" which had recently been approved by Vladimir Putin. The clip went viral on social media.[14]

Incidents

Abby Martin statement

On March 4, 2014, Breaking the Set host Abby Martin (whose show was at the time produced by RT America), speaking directly to her viewing audience during the show's closing statement, said that even though she worked for RT, she was against Russia's intervention in Ukraine. She said that "what Russia did is wrong", as she is against intervention by any nation into other countries' affairs.[15] Later, Martin asserted that RT still supported her despite her differences of opinion with the Russian government.[16] RT's press office suggested that Martin would be sent to Crimea and responded to accusations of propaganda, stating "the charges of propaganda tend to pop up every time a news outlet, particularly RT, dares to show the side of events that does not fit the mainstream narrative, regardless of the realities on the ground. This happened in Georgia, this is happening in Ukraine".[17][note 1]

Glenn Greenwald said that American media elites love to mock Russian media, especially RT, as being a source of shameless pro-Putin propaganda, where free expression is strictly barred. Agreeing the "network has a strong pro-Russian bias", he suggested that Martin's action "remarkably demonstrated what 'journalistic independence' means".[18]

Liz Wahl resignation

RT America broadcast with former anchor Liz Wahl

The day after Martin's statement, RT America anchor Liz Wahl resigned on air, claiming RT was a propaganda machine for Vladimir Putin.[19] She was recorded as saying[20][21]

I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin. I am proud to be an American and believe in disseminating the truth. And that is why, after this newscast, I am resigning.[21]

Wahl stated that what "broke" her was that RT censored a question from her interview with Ron Paul about "Russia's intervention in Ukraine". In response, RT released a statement: "When a journalist disagrees with the editorial position of his or her organization, the usual course of action is to address those grievances with the editor, and, if they cannot be resolved, to quit like a professional. But when someone makes a big public show of a personal decision, it is nothing more than a self-promotional stunt. We wish Liz the best of luck on her chosen path".[22] In a March 2014 Politico article, Wahl expanded on that statement, saying, "For about two and a half years. I'd looked the other way as the network smeared America for the sake of making the Kremlin look better by comparison, while it sugarcoated atrocities by one brutal dictator after another."[21]

When asked about a clip of her interviewing a guest on RT by Brian Stelter, host of CNN's Reliable Sources, Wahl responded,

They get these extreme voices on that have this kind of hostile toward the West viewpoints towards the world, very extremist. These are the people that they have on. And when I was on the anchor desk, they would instruct you to egg on these guests and try to get them, you know, rallied up, to really fire off their anti-American talking points. Listen, I'm all about exposing government corruption. I'm all about being critical of the government. But this is different. This is promoting the foreign policy of somebody that has just invaded a country, has invaded the country and is then lying about it, is using the media as a tool to fulfill his foreign policy interests. And RT is part of Putin's propaganda network and it's very, very troubling in the wake of what is going on in Ukraine today.[23]

C-SPAN interruption

On January 12, 2017, during a live House of Representatives debate on the Securities and Exchange Commission C-SPAN 1's live broadcast was suddenly interrupted by a cut in of RT America. C-SPAN explained the interruption as a technical malfunction blaming it on an internal routing error which moved the RT America feed from an internal monitor within C-SPAN used to monitor the network alongside others to the broadcast feed for C-SPAN 1.[24]

RT stated that while it was testing its systems in preparation for the inauguration of Donald Trump, its signal was "mistakenly routed onto the primary encoder feeding C-SPAN 1's signal to the internet, rather than to an unused backup."[25]

RT America programming

Current

Former

Notable news personalities

Current

Former

See also

Notes

  1. ^ See Information war during the Russo-Georgian war and 2014 Crimean crisis

References

  1. ^ a b "Question That: RT's Military Mission: Assessing Russia Today's role as an "information weapon"". Atlantic Council, Digital Forensic Research Lab. January 7, 2018 – via Medium.
  2. ^ Julia Ioffe (September–October 2010). "What Is Russia Today? The Kremlin's propaganda outlet has an identity crisis". Columbia Journalism Review.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  3. ^ "Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections" (PDF). United States Intelligence Community. January 6, 2017.
  4. ^ Ewing, Phillip (February 10, 2017). "5 Things On Michael Flynn, Russia and Donald Trump". NPR.
  5. ^ Nikolaus von Twickel, "Russia Today courts viewers with controversy", The Moscow Times, March 23, 2010.
  6. ^ a b c David Z. Morris (September 17, 2017). "Inside RT, Russia's Kremlin-Controlled Propaganda Network". Fortune.
  7. ^ "Dubious Broadcast 'Experts' Seen on Many Networks". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. November 21, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  8. ^ Holland, Adam (June 10, 2014). "Ryan Dawson, RT's 'Human Rights Activist,' A Holocaust Denier Who's Friends With Hate Criminals". The Interpreter. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  9. ^ Yablokov, Ilya (2015). "Conspiracy Theories as a Russian Public Diplomacy Tool: The Case of Russia Today (RT)". Politics. 35 (3–4): 301–315. doi:10.1111/1467-9256.12097.
  10. ^ Erlanger, Steven (March 8, 2017). "Russia's RT Network: Is It More BBC or K.G.B.?". The New York Times. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  11. ^ Stubbs, Jack; Gibson, Ginger (November 13, 2017). "Russia's RT America registers as 'foreign agent' in U.S." Reuters.
  12. ^ Gold, Hadas. "Congressional press office yanks RT's credentials". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  13. ^ Kirchick, James (September 20, 2017). "RT wants to spread Moscow's propaganda here. Let's treat it that way". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  14. ^ Pompeo, Joe (September 20, 2019). "Russia Goes Viral: How the RT Network Built a U.S. Audience". New York. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  15. ^ Greg Botelho (March 5, 2014). "State-funded news anchor Abby Martin: 'What Russia did is wrong'". CNN.
  16. ^ "Ukraine conflict perspectives and Washington's shadow lobbyists". RT. March 4, 2014.
  17. ^ Graves, Lucia (March 4, 2014) RT Defends Host Abby Martin, Responds to Accusations of Pro-Putin Propaganda, National Journal retrieved April 11, 2014
  18. ^ Greenwald, Glenn (March 4, 2014) RT Host Abby Martin Condemns Russian Incursion Into Crimea – On RT The Intercept Retrieved March 21, 2014
  19. ^ "Russia Today TV presenter Liz Wahl quits on air". BBC News. March 6, 2014.
  20. ^ RT America (2014-03-05), RT America's Liz Wahl resigns live on air, retrieved 2016-07-28
  21. ^ a b c Wahl, Liz (March 21, 2014). "I Was Putin's Pawn". Politico.
  22. ^ "RT reacts to anchor Liz Wahl quitting on air". RT International. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  23. ^ Brian Stelter (March 24, 2014). "Putin TV in Chaos". CNN. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  24. ^ Bromwich, Jonah Engel (2017). "C-Span Online Broadcast Interrupted by Russian Network". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  25. ^ Spangler, Todd (2017-01-19). "Facebook Restores Kremlin-Funded RT Posting Privileges After Temporary Block". Variety. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  26. ^ RT America (2016-10-13), 'America's Lawyer': Attorney and radio talk show host Mike Papantonio joins RT America, retrieved 2018-07-27
  27. ^ RT America (2018-07-05), Remembering Ed Schultz, retrieved 2018-07-27
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