RT (TV network): Difference between revisions

"Russia Today" redirects here. For other uses, see Russia Today (disambiguation).

RT

Country	Russia
Headquarters	Moscow, Russia
Programming
Language(s)	Arabic, English, Russian, Spanish
Ownership
Owner	RIA Novosti

RT, also known as Russia Today, is a state/government-funded multilingual Russian-based television channel. It describes itself as an "autonomous non-profit organization" which retains "complete legal, editorial and operational independence." Other sources have described it as pro-Kremlin. Founded by the state-ownedRIA Novosti in 2005, RT, according to its corporate profile, "covers the major issues of our time for viewers wishing to question more."

RT presents round-the-clock news bulletins, documentaries, talk shows, and debates, as well as sports news and cultural programs on Russia aimed at the overseas news market. These programs have earned RT awards, but have also drawn criticisms and controversies.

RT has over 2 million viewers in the United Kingdom and has rivaled Al Jazeera as the most popular English-speaking foreign channel in Britain. RT America is available to 50 million people in the United States and is the second most-watched foreign news channel after BBC News. It is the number one foreign station in five U.S. urban areas. According to Pew Research, RT is the number one source for the most popular news videos on YouTube.

History

Creation of Russia Today was a part of a larger effort by Kremlin intended to improve the image of Russia abroad. RT started broadcasting as "Russia Today" on 10 December 2005, initially with 300 journalists, including approximately 70 from outside Russia. Russia Today’s editor-in-chief position was filled by Margarita Simonyan who said that said the channel’s intent was to have a "professional format" like the BBC, CNN and Euronews that would "reflect Russia's opinion of the world" and present a "more balanced picture" of Russia.

Simonyan previously had worked for the Kremlin press pool for Rossiya. She was only 25 but had been working in journalism since she was 18. She told the New York Times that after the fall of the Soviet Union many new young journalists were hired, thus the youth of most of the staffers. Journalist Danny Schechter has stated that having been part of the start-up team for CNN, he saw RT as another “channel of young people who are inexperienced, but very enthusiastic about what they are doing." Shortly after the channel was launched, James Painter wrote that Russia Today and similar stations like France 24 and TeleSUR saw themselves as “counter-hegemonic”, offering a differing vision and news content from that of Western media like CNN and the BBC.

RT launched several new channels in ensuing years: the Arabic language channel Rusiya Al-Yaum in 2007, the Spanish language channel RT Actualidad in 2009, RT America which focuses on the United States in 2010, and the RT Documentary channel in 2011. By 2010 RT had grown to a staff of 2000.

In August 2007, RT had television's first ever live report from the North Pole, which lasted 5 minutes, 41 seconds. An RT crew participated in the Arktika 2007 Russian polar expedition, led by Artur Chilingarov on the Akademik Fyodorov icebreaker.

In 2009 Russia Today rebranded itself to the more neutral "RT." Margarita Simonyan denied it was an attempt to hide its Russian origin, saying the corporate logo was changed to attract more viewers and commenting "Who is interested in watching news from Russia all day long?”

The early 2010 “Question More” advertising campaign created for RT in Britain by McCann Erickson was highly controversial. One advertisement showed American President Barack Obama “morphing” into Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and asked: "Who poses the greatest nuclear threat?" The ad was banned in American airports. Another shows a Western soldier "merging" into a Taliban fighter and asks: "Is terror only inflicted by terrorists?" One of RT’s 2010 billboard advertisements won the British Awards for National Newspaper Advertising “Ad of the Month.”

Russia Today is one of several international channels which have challenged the United States media which previously dominated global news coverage. In 2010 Walter Isaacson, Chairman of the U.S. Government's Broadcasting Board of Governors (which runs Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Free Asia), called for more money for the programs because "We can't allow ourselves to be out-communicated by our enemies," mentioning specifically Russia Today, Iran's Press TV and China's China Central Television (“CCTV”) in the next sentence. He later explained he actually was referring to “enemies” in Afghanistan, not the nations he mentioned. In 2011 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that the United States was “losing the information war” abroad to foreign channels like Russia Today, Al Jazeera, and China Central Television and that they are supplanting the Voice of America.

In 2012 Pew Research found RT to be the most popular news channel on YouTube, with Fox News coming in second.

On April 17, 2012 RT began to broadcast the World Tomorrow, a news interview program hosted by Julian Assange. The first guest was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. WikiLeaks described the show as "a series of in-depth conversations with key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries from around the world." Assange admitted that if Wikileaks had published Russian data, his relationship with RT might not have been so comfortable.

In August of 2012 RT suffered a denial of service attack by a group calling itself “Antileaks” which was protesting the jailing of members of the Pussy Riot group. A few weeks later the site was down intermittently for two days for unspecified reasons.

In 2012 RT was nominated for an International Emmy Award for its coverage of the international Occupy Wall Street movement. In 2010 it had been nominated for one in news broadcasting for its coverage of president Barack Obama's trip to Russia.

Budget

RT cost $30 million to establish in 2005 and $30 million for its first year of operation. About half of the network's budget came from the state and the other half from banks and companies friendly to the government. Its budget in dollars was approximately $80 million in 2007, $120 million in 2008, $380 million in 2011 and $300 million in 2012.

Network

Former President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev visits RT offices with Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.

RT broadcast through 22 satellite and 230 cable operators to 430 million people in over 100 countries, 22 percent of all cable subscribers worldwide. In addition to its English-language broadcast, RT also runs Rusiya Al-Yaum, an Arabic language channel, and Actualidad RT, a Spanish-language channel, as well as a documentary channel, RTDoc. RT has 21 bureaus in 16 countries, including Washington, D.C., New York, London, Paris, Delhi, Cairo, Baghdad, Kiev. It employs over 2,000 media professionals worldwide.

RT consists of its main RT International English-language channel, RT America, RT Arabic, Actualidad RT in Spanish, and RT Documentary.

Channel	Description	Language	Launched	Website
RT International	The flagship news channel of the RT network, it covers international and regional headlines from a Russian perspective. Based in Moscow with a presence in Washington, New York, London, Paris, Delhi, Cairo, Baghdad, Kiev and other cities.	English	2005	rt.com
Rusiya Al-Yaum	Based in Moscow and broadcast 24/7. Programs include news, feature programming and documentaries.	Arabic	2007	arabic.rt.com
RT Actualidad	Based in Moscow with bureaus in Miami, Los Angeles, Havana and Buenos Aires. Covers headline news, politics, sports, and broadcast specials.	Spanish	2009	actualidad.rt.com
RT America	It focuses on covering the Americas from an international and Russian perspective. Based in RT's Washington, DC Bureau.	English	2010	rt.com/usa
RT Documentary	24-hour documentary channel. The bulk of its programming is RT-produced documentaries related to Russia.	English	2011	rtd.rt.com

The RT website offers a live stream available online to computer or mobile devices. It provides many of its news casts and featured shows via YouTube. RT is transmitted on 22 satellites, covering much of Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa and Australia on a variety of carriers listed at its website. In September 2012 RT signed a contract with the Israeli company RRSat to distribute high definition channels to the United States, Latin America and Asia.

RT cooperates with a number of media sources in Russia and abroad, including private media like Izvestia, Kommersant, Trud, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Vedomosti, Argumenty i Fakty and the non-Russian Association for International Broadcasting, Huffington Post, News.com.au and WhatReallyHappened.com. In October 2012 RT's Rusiya Al-Yaum and Russia Today joined the High Definition network Al Yah Satellite Communications (“YahLive’).

Programming

RT America broadcast with anchor Liz Wahl

RT International English-language channel and RT America have similar programming with the latter covering more news from the United States. RT Arabic and Actualidad RT in Spanish feature their own news presenters, as well as translated versions of RT's English programming. RT's generous financing has allowed it to attract experienced journalists and use the latest technology.

RT reporters tend to concentrate on controversial world issues such as the financial instability and fiscal crises, financial and banking scandals, corporate impact on the global economy, and demonstrations of protesters. News from Russia is of secondary importance and such reports emphasize Russian modernisation and economic achievements, as well as Russian culture and natural landscapes, while downplaying Russia's social problems or corruption. In 2008 Stephen Heyman wrote in the New York Times that in RT’s Russia, “corruption is not quite a scourge but a symptom of a developing economy.”

RT’s current feature programs include:

Current feature programs:Breaking the set (Abby Martin); Capital Account (Lauren Lyster); CrossTalk and On the Money (Peter Lavelle); Interview with Sophie (Sophie Shevardnadze ); Keiser Report (Max Keiser with Stacy Herbert); Prime Time Russia News; Spotlight (Al Gurnov); Technology Update (Brandon Rice); The Big Picture (Thom Hartmann); Why You Should Care

Presenters

RT's current listing of “On Air Talent” includes:

News anchors: Bill Dod, Marina Dzhashi, Andrew Farmer, Kristine Frazao (Washington, DC), Cary Johnston, Abby Martin (Washington DC), Dmitry Medvedenko (Business), Anissa Naouai, Eunan O'Neill (Sports), Kevin Owen, Kate Partridge (Sports), Yulia Shapovalova, Rory Suchet, Sean Thomas, Matt Trezza, Liz Wahl (Washington DC)

Sean Thomas reporting from Antarctica, 2009.

Correspondents: Tesa Arcilla, Tom Barton, Denis Bolotsky, Oksana Boyko, Anastasia Churkina, Gayane Chichakyan], Anya Fedorova, Maria Finoshina, Sara Firth, Lindsay France, Ramon Galindo (Los Angeles), Irina Galushko, Jacob Greaves (Primetime Russia), Lori Harfenist (New York), Meghan Lopez, Thabang Motsei, Natalia Novikova, Pete Oliver, Darya Pushkova, Egor Piskunov, Marina Portnaya] (New York), Paula Slier (Middle East), Laura Smith (London), Priya Sridhar (South Asia), Natalia Shanetskaya

Business presenters: Marina Kosareva, Madina Kochenova

Documentary presenters: Martyn Andrews (entertainment, cookery and travel, formerly of Wayfarer/Moscow Out/Venice of the North), James Brown (travel through Russia, formerly of Close-Up Russia)

Sport presenters: Andrew Farmer, Michael Kravchenko, Roman Kosarev, Richard Van Poortvliet, Robert Vardanian

Notable past presenters:Adam Kokesh (Adam vs. the Man), Neave Barker, Jason de la Pêna, Alyona Minkovski (The Alyona Show), Maryam Nemazee, Karen Roberts, Dmitry Glukhovsky

Notable guests

Among the notable guests who have appeared on RT frequently include heads of state (Vladimir Putin and Nouri Al-Maliki), politicians (Nigel Farage,Marine Le Pen, Avraham Burg, Ron Paul and Henry Kissinger), academics and think tank intellectuals (John Feffer, Lawrence Korb, Craig Calhoun and Norman Finkelstein), and journalists and writers (Pepe Escobar, Chris Hedges, Naomi Wolf, Danny Schechter and Glenn Greenwald).

Criticism and Controversies

There have been a number of criticisms of and controversies regarding RT. RT staffers and/or independent journalists and writers have responded to many of them.

Allegations of bias

After the 2005 announcement the station would be launched, the U.S. government-operated VOA interviewed Anton Nosik, chief editor of MosNews.com, who said the creation of Russia Today "smacks of Soviet-style propaganda campaigns" and that "that the channel was not created as a response to any existing demand." A representative of Reporters Without Borders called the newly announced network “another step of the state to control information.” In 2009 Luke Harding in The Guardian described Russia Today's advertising campaign in the United Kingdom as an "ambitious attempt to create a new post-Soviet global propaganda empire." James Kirchick in The New Republic criticized the network as presenting " often virulent anti-Americanism, worshipful portrayal of Russian." In 2010 The Independent reported that RT journalists had revealed that coverage of sensitive issues in Russia was allowed but direct criticism of Vladimir Putin or then President Dmitry Medvedev is not. Masha Karp wrote in Standpoint magazine that contemporary Russian issues "such as the suppression of free speech and peaceful demonstrations, or the economic inefficiency and corrupt judiciary, are either ignored or their significance played down".

In addition to Western commentators, some notable Russians have also been critical of RT: a 2011 article by Accuracy in Media quoted former KGB officer Konstantin Preobrazhensky criticized RT as "a part of the Russian industry of misinformation and manipulation" while Andrey Illarionov, former advisor to Vladimir Putin, has labelled the channel as “the best Russian propaganda machine targeted at the outside world.” Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption blogger who has exposed crooked schemes in companies close to the Kremlin, was reported in an article in The Independent as having "come in for particular disdain from the state-funded broadcaster."

Russian studies professor Stephen F. Cohen stated in 2012 that RT does a lot of stories that “reflect badly” on the United States and that they are “particularly aggrieved by American sermonizing abroad.” In June 2011 RT responded to the criticisms it is "state-run" by noting the official mission statements and funding of other well-known "state-run" television networks like the British Broadcasting Corporation ("BBC"), France 24, Germany's Deutsche Welle and the United States' Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Margarita Simonyan, the channel's editor-in-chief, told a reporter that the government would not dictate content and "Censorship by government in this country is prohibited by the constitution." She explained her job was "to bring the western image of Russia closer to what Russia really is."

Stephen F. Cohen argues that despite the pro-government slant, “any intelligent viewer can sort this out. I doubt that many idiots find their way to RT.” John Feffer, codirector of Foreign Policy in Focus says he appears on RT as well as the U.S.-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, commenting “You’re going to find blind spots in the coverage for any news organization.” American journalist Glenn Greenwald listed the corporate and government owners of prominent western media like NBC, BBC, Voice of America, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Politico and The Washington Post and asked why it was “an intrinsic violation of journalistic integrity to work for a media outlet owned by the Russian government." He also wrote that he real cause of American media hostility toward RT is that “the reporting it does reflects poorly on the U.S. Government, the ultimate sin in the eyes of our ‘adversarial’ press corps."

Julia Ioffe desribed the creation of RT in one article as "just a way to stick it to the U.S. from behind the façade of legitimate newsgathering".

Programming and guests

Journalist Julia Ioffe described RT as being "provocative just for the sake of being provocative" in its choice of guests and issue topics, featuring a Russian historian who predicted the United States would soon be dissolved, showing speeches by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, reporting on homelessness in America, and interviewing the chairman of the New Black Panther Party. She wrote that in attempting to offer "an alternate point of view, it is forced to talk to marginal, offensive, and often irrelevant figures..." The Economist magazine noted that RT's programming, while sometimes interesting and unobjectionable, and sometimes “hard-edged”, also presents “wild conspiracy theories” that can be regarded as “kooky.” A 2010 Southern Poverty Law Center report alleged that RT extensively covered the "birther" and the "New World Order" conspiracy theories and interviewed militia organizer Jim Stachowiak and white nationalist Jared Taylor.

Jesse Zwick writes that RT has provided a “disproportionate amount of time to covering Ron Paul, wondering aloud why the presidential candidate and his vision of the United States don’t get more attention from the mainstream media.” RT cancelled Ron Paul supporter Adam Kokesh’s show Adam vs. The Man soon after an FEC complaint was filed charging a political contribution had been made by a foreign corporation. Kokesh denies that was the reason his show was cancelled.

Margarita Simonyan has said that "we don't give airtime to public figures who you call extremist any more than CNN and other channels give airtime to people who many in Russia consider extremists". She also told Nikolaus von Twickel of the Moscow Times that RT started to grow once it became provocative and that controversy was vital to the station. She said that RT's task was not to polish Moscow's reputation.

News coverage

During the 2008 South Ossetia War Russia Today correspondent William Dunbar resigned because he was not allowed to report on Russian airstrikes on civilian targets and stated “any issue where there is a Kremlin line, RT is sure to toe it.” Human Rights Watch said that the RT claim of 2,000 South Ossetian casualties was exaggerated. The Moscow correspondent for The Independent said that Russia Today's had "instructed reporters not to report from Georgian villages within South Ossetia that had been ethnically cleansed." Julia Ioffe wrote that an RT journalist whose reporting deviated from "the Kremlin line that Georgians were slaughtering unarmed Ossetians" was reprimanded.

According to Variety magazine sources at RT confirmed that correspondent William Dunbar had resigned but rejected allegations of bias. One senior RT journalist told Variety “The Russian coverage I have seen has been much better than much of the Western coverage... When you look at the Western media, there is a lot of genuflection towards the powers that be. Russian news coverage is largely pro-Russia, but that is to be expected.”

In September 2012, United Kingdom broadcast regulator Ofcom found that two Libyan dispatches broadcast by Phelan on RT in August 2011 were in breach of its code on accuracy and impartiality. One stated that Libyan rebels had little popular support and another criticized Western media as lying about the NATO operations. It held that Broadcasters should note that "when items in their news programmes criticise the policies and actions of individuals, organisations, governments or states, they must not only be presented with due impartiality but also reported with due accuracy."

In 2012 Jesse Zwick in The New Republic criticized RT, alleging it held that “civilian casualties in Syria are minimal, foreign intervention would be disastrous, and any humanitarian appeals from Western nations are a thin veil for a NATO-backed move to isolate Iran, China, and Russia.” He wrote that RT wants to “make the United States look out of line for lecturing Russia.” Zwick also noted that Stephen F. Cohen has criticized western coverage of the Syrian conflict, saying he was suspicious of CNN coverage and that “It seems to be the flip side of RT. It’s too black and white, too virtuous and simple. Each side sounds like one hand clapping.”

RT staff

Margarita Simonyan - RT's current editor-in-chief who has been described as a "Kremlin loyalist" who is close to the Putin regime. According to Professor Andrei Richter, Simonyan was appointed to that position because she was well-connected with the editor; she acknowledged that she once received flowers on her birthday from Mr. Putin. Similarly, an article in The Moscow Times reports that Simonyan was chosen by the Kremlin to be the channel's editor in chief, though the article also stated that such appointments weren't unsurprising in Russia. Moreover, in an interview with the Washington Times, Simonyan acknowledged that she was too young (25) to be given the reins of Russia Today.

Shortly after his appointment as the United States Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul challenged Margarita Simonyan over the Twitter in regards to allegations from RT that he sent Alexei Navalny to study at Yale, tweeting, ""@M_Simonyan when we met at White House you asked me tell you when RT ran something untrue. On RT today, @McFaul sent @Navalny to Yale. Lie."

Professional awards

• September 2006 – The 10th "Golden Tambourine" International Festival for Television programs and films awarded RT's documentary People of the Bering Strait in the Ethnography and Travel category
• June 2007 – The 11th "Save and Preserve" International Environmental Television Festival awarded its Grand Prix to RT's Meeting with Nature series.
• September 2007 – Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio awarded RT with the Prize for Professional Skillfulness
• November 2007 – RT's report on the anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe received a special prize from the international 2007 AIB Media Excellence Awards in the News Coverage category. Other nominees included major international broadcasters such as BBC, France 24, Deutsche Welle, CBS, Al Arabiya, and others. There was only one story by CBS News which rated higher than RT and it received the Grand Prix
• September 2008 – Russia's most prestigious broadcasting award TEFI to Kevin Owen in Best News Anchor category
• November 2008 – Special Jury Award in the Best Creative Feature category for a Russian Glamour feature story at Media Excellence Awards in London
• January 2009 – Silver World Medal from the New York Festivals, for Best News Documentary “A city of desolate mothers”
• November 2011 – Martyn Andrews and the weekly "Moscow Out" arts and entertainment show awarded the "ShereMedia Award" for Best Lifestyle Program

See also

• State media
• Freedom of the press in Russia
• Voice of Russia

External links

• RT website
• RT's channel on YouTube
• RT on Twitter
• RT on Facebook
• RT Live Flash stream