RT America

RT America was a U.S.-based news channel headquartered in Washington, D.C. Owned by TV Novosti and operated by production company T&RProductions, it was a part of the RT network, a global multilingual television news network based in Moscow funded by the Russian government. The channel said it reached an audience of 85 million people in the United States, but this figure is disputed. It was distributed through select cable providers, over-the-top services, a live stream through its website, and three low-power digital subchannels. Since the channel's closure, viewers who tune into the cable channel or their live stream are being shown a live feed of an RT International broadcast instead.

Among the channel's shows at its closure included: '' Dennis Miller + One'' with Dennis Miller, ''CrossTalk'' with Peter Lavelle and ''The Keiser Report'' with Max Keiser. Other shows included ''News with Ed Schultz'' (2016–2018) and ''Larry King Now'' (2012-2020). Additional personalities included Rick Sanchez, Stacy Herbert, Chris Hedges, Jesse Ventura, Sean Stone, Lee Camp, Mike Papantonio and Ben Swann.

Incidents centered upon RT America include ''Breaking the Set'' host Abby Martin's 2014 statement of her opposition to Russia's intervention in Ukraine, which was followed the next day by anchor Liz Wahl's on-the-air resignation, which she issued on account of her belief that RT was a propaganda machine for President Vladimir Putin. In 2017, David Z. Morris wrote in ''Fortune'' that, "in its early years, RT provided a platform for various fringe theories or simply false narratives in American public discourse ..according to a unnamedsocial network analyst interviewed by the '' ew YorkTimes'', RT isn't simply a platform for a right-wing agenda. Rather, it fuels fringe viewpoints across the political spectrum, providing grist for libertarian, far-left, and anti-globalization factions as well." James Kirchick wrote in ''The Washington Post'' that the channel was "not a 'news service' in any meaningful sense of the term".

After losing the majority of its cable and satellite coverage following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the channel ceased operations of all live programming on March 3, 2022, with T&R Productions indicating the layoffs of all off- and on-air staff would be permanent.

History

The channel was launched in the United States 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.Nikolaus von Twickel
"Russia Today courts viewers with controversy"
''The Moscow Times'', March 23, 2010.

In October 2017, after the United States Department of Justice insisted that RT America register as a "foreign agent" under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the Russian Justice Ministry declared "foreign agents" several U.S.-government funded media outlets, including the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.''U.S. Congressional Press Office Strips RT Of Credentials.''
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 30 November 2017. Accessed 19 February 2022

/ref> RT America'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, but blasted the move noting that registration also resulted in the TV channel losing its Congressional press credentials, and undermined assertions by the U.S. Department of Justice that FARA registration would not have any effect on the channel's ability to operate in the United States.

Termination

The network was removed from the services offered by DirecTV on March 1, 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Ora Media pausing production on several shows it produced for RT America. Dish Network dropped the channel on March 4.

After losing the majority of its cable and satellite coverage, the channel ceased operations of all live programming on March 3, 2022, with T&R Productions indicating the layoffs of all off- and on-air staff would be permanent.

Views and opinions

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.

According to David Z. Morris, writing in ''Fortune'' magazine in 2017, "in its early years, RT provided a platform for various fringe or simply false narratives in American public discourse," with guests on the network "arguing that the 9/11 attacks were a CIA conspiracy and that Osama bin Laden's death was faked." According to him, "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." He also added that during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign, RT published conspiracy theories about the murder of Seth Rich to undermine the Hillary Clinton campaign. Some of these gained traction on social media and were distributed around the internet.

National Public Radio has accused the channel of being pro-Trump during the Trump's presidency, and typically has been an accused of being a conservative-leaning channel.

In their investigation of alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. 2016 elections, the U.S. intelligence services stated that they had "high confidence" that RT was involved in a campaign ordered by President Vladimir Putin. ''The New York Times'' reported their findings in 2017 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."

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." 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 President Putin. The clip went viral on social media.

William Broad

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