RT America is a TV channel based in Washington, D.C., and part of the RT network, a global multilingual television news network based in Moscow, Russia. RT is a non-profit organization funded by the Russian government. RT America also has studios and bureaus in New York City, Miami, and Los Angeles. The channel is the home and the production base of RT's U.S. based programs.
RT America focuses on covering news in the United States from a Russian perspective. Programs are hosted by American journalists. Similarly, most guests are American (and sometimes Canadian) activists, academics, speakers and analysts with alternative perspectives on "mainstream" issues. The channel covers issues that see lesser coverage in the mainstream media, such as using non-GMO ingredients in foods, capitalism, growing wealth inequality, corruption in politics, peace and environmental issues. It maintains a separate schedule of programs each weekday from 4 p.m. to 12 midnight Eastern Time, and like its counterpart in the UK, it simulcasts RT International at all other times.
RT America is the channel for RT content delivery to the United States cable and satellite providers. The channel is also available on Canadian pay TV providers. In addition, the channel is also available worldwide through various means including: online through RT's primary website, Pluto.tv, mobile phone apps, and channel apps on platforms such as Roku and Apple TV.
The channel is registered as a "foreign agent" with the United States Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Video RT America
History
The channel was launched in February 2010 as RT was looking to grow their footprint. 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. On June 13, 2013 RT previewed Larry King's new Thursday evening political talk show Politicking with Larry King with a discussion of Edward Snowden's leaking of the PRISM surveillance program. King's programs on RT America are produced by Ora TV. RT later added notable figures such as former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura and Ed Shultz formerly of MSNBC as hosts in primetime.
In the wake of the alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. elections and the subsequent investigation into the matter on 13 November 2017, the United States Department of Justice insisted that RT America comply with registration requirements under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). 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. On 13 November 2017, RT America registered as a "foreign agent" in the United States with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The network's congressional press credentials were revoked as part of the network's registration as a foreign agent.
A declassified intelligence community assessment on Russian activities in the 2016 elections accused RT and RT America by extension of aggressively using the internet and social media to conduct "strategic messaging for the Russian government." RT videos receive more than one million views a day on YouTube, according to the report, and the network's programming was "aimed at undermining viewers' trust of US democratic procedures." RT mocked the report as a joke.
Maps RT America
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. Later, Martin asserted that RT still supported her despite her differences of opinion with the Russian government. RT's press office suggested that Martin would be sent to the 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".
Glenn Greenwald claimed 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".
Wahl resignation
Wahl's on-air statement
On March 5, 2014, RT America anchor Liz Wahl resigned on air, claiming RT was a propaganda machine for Vladimir Putin. She was recorded as saying
"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."
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". 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."
When asked about a clip of her interviewing a guest on RT by Brian Stelter, host of CNN's Reliable Sources, Wahl responded,
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 along side others to the broadcast feed for C-SPAN 1.
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."
RT America programming
Current
- CrossTalk (2009)
- The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann (2010)
- The Keiser Report (2009)
- The Resident (2010)
- Boom Bust (2013)
- Larry King Now (2013) (produced by Ora TV)
- Politicking with Larry King (2013) (produced by Ora TV)
- Redacted Tonight (2014)
- Watching the Hawks (2015)
- America's Lawyer (2016)
- On Contact with Chris Hedges (2016)
- News with Ed Schultz (2016)
- The World According to Jesse (2017)
Former
- The Alyona Show (2009-2012)
- Adam vs. The Man (2011)
- Capital Account (2011-2013)
- Breaking the Set (2012-2015)
- Prime Interest (2013)
- Off the Grid (2014-2016)
Notable news personalities
Current
- Chris Hedges (unknown-present)
- Max Keiser (2009-present)
- Thom Hartmann (2010-present)
- Larry King (2013-present)
- Tyrel Ventura (2014-present)
- Jesse Ventura (2015-present)
- Sean Stone (2015-present)
- Ed Schultz (2016-present)
- Lindsay France (2016-present)
- Lee Camp (2014-present)
Former
- Alyona Minkovski (2010-2012)
- Lauren Lyster (2010-2013)
- Adam Kokesh (2011)
- Liz Wahl (2011-2014)
- Abby Martin (2012-2015)
- Ben Swann (2014-2015)
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Notes
References
See also
- Censorship in the United States
- Sputnik (news agency), RT's sister service which provides radio and web content
- United States cable news
- List of United States over-the-air television networks
- List of United States cable and satellite television networks
- List of independent television stations in the U.S.
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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