Exclusive: Russia Today Boss Showcases Secret ‘KGB’ Operation at TV Channel HQ
Dmitry Kiselyov:
At the beginning of the week the Russian English-speaking TV channel RT was officially registered in the US as a foreign agent. This implies marking the broadcast materials and publishing detailed financial statements. In the reality of life in America, it's an attempt to create unbearable work conditions for the journalists, and an unconditional attack on freedom of speech. An unfriendly gesture to us.
In response, the Russian State Duma unanimously, which happens rarely, adopts a law under which media in Russia funded from abroad can be recognized as foreign agents, that is, also labeling their products and publishing detailed reports, including the compensation of invited authors.
No outlets are specifically mentioned in the adopted amendments.
The Russian Ministry of Justice can determine them at its discretion. The new legislation doesn't affect Russian media outlets. So far, the Ministry of Justice has sent notifications on the possible recognition as foreign agents to the Voice of America, Idel.Realia, Kavkaz.Realia, Krym.Realia, Siberia.Realia, Factograph (from Radio Liberty), Current Time, a joint project by Radio Liberty and Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Tatar-Bashkir office of Radio Liberty.
For now, that is all. In general, all these media outlets could've continued working freely in Russia. In the overall information flow, the audience isn't much interested in them, and there's little that can amaze people, with the freedom of speech in our country.
After the USSR, “enemy voices” were somehow snuffed out here. Instead, in the US, an alternative point of view, has become in short supply. And there are uncomfortable facts that scratch America.
That's why the RT company was on the rise there until the US authorities decided to use forced retention.
Our political observer Evgeny Rozhkov is reporting on the RT from its Moscow headquarters.
It's our main newsroom where the major news for the RT International is produced. RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan shows what she is really proud of: English-speaking broadcasting. And there are also Arabic and Spanish. But, she says, they have rather modest studios unlike their American colleagues.
Margarita Simonyan: "The Western agency has estimated that that we spend as much money per month as CBS, a major American channel, spends in seven hours. You know, that's what they are afraid of, this competition".
This competition began in 2005. Then the first news about Russia and the Russian view of world events sounded abroad. Then they went on the Internet. Now RT is watched on YouTube, for example, much more often than any other news company.
Margarita Simonyan: "They've done it for decades, nobody prevented them from doing it, no one ever said a word to them. As soon as America saw a sound voice which began to highlight the problems of American society, it suddenly turned out a foreign agent, and they needed to kick it out, like, how could we let this happen?"
Russia Today TV channel is now watched in 100 countries, with the audience exceeding 700 million people. But RT was forced to register as a foreign agent in only one country, the USA, which amazed the audience on both sides of the ocean. American special services accused the Russian TV company of interfering in the presidential elections and canvassing for Trump. And the US Justice Department gave it a black mark of a foreign agent, under a law that was adopted before World War II.
The law was adopted in 1938 against fascism, for internal reasons.
Host: But what do you have to do with it?
Margarita: Exactly, that's the point. Explain to me, Evgeny, what do we have to do with it? Did you ask them? It's useless, impossible to talk to them. Have you ever applied for an American visa? If you're refused a visa, they just say 'No' without any explanations. They consider it unnecessary to go into details.
An RT news anchor Yunan O'Neal, who is from Ireland, very well remembers the entire presidential race. He was on the air and did not notice any bias.
Host: While speaking about Clinton and Trump, were you even-handed or did you prioritize either of them?
Yunan O'Neal: "And that's one of the things that were most surprising to me. For example, I spoke a lot about Bernie Sanders, he represented the Left. Hillary Clinton was a front-runner, of course, there was a lot of information about her. But if you watch our stories and what was shown on the American channels, you'll see that we definitely didn't talk about Donald Trump more than they did".
Margarita Simonyan: "The whole establishment was against Trump, and he still won, and they need to figure out how. So, they invented a story that Russians are to blame, but who are Russians? Russians are we".
RT had no alternative: either to become a foreign agent or face trial. They had to choose the first option. And this means that now the TV channel has to frighten — you can't find another word — the US audience with a new status, inform in advance about all your filming and interviews. To the point that the staff will have to publish their home addresses, their salaries. And some could not stand it. Not everyone is ready to fight the American bureaucratic machine.
Margarita Simonyan: "Political wars will end once. I feel sorry for our journalists because our guys go to such locations and places where the overwhelming majority of American journalists and surely all major TV channels, wouldn't even dream to get. At their peril, our journalists travel to the hot spots of the world to to tell people the truth. And now they're called foreign agents".
However, the pressure on RT did not start yesterday.
The channel told about the developments in Syria, about Russia's position in the UN Security Council, Western double standards, and it was accused of propaganda. To break the stereotypes, journalists shot joking videos. It's our news studio. The youth are working here. Nikolai Pavlovich, is everything under control? Everything under control! They can't be naughty with me. Got it? That host from the video is Kevin Owen. By the way, he came from BBC And being a European, he was amazed at the American attacks on freedom of speech.
Kevin Owen: "I don't see what we do is being that strong. We represent the Russian point of view, and do not praise the power.I did not see anyone being locked up in a sort of isolation facility, saying: "You can't say this or that". Nothing of this. My recommendation is to watch us, BBC, Sky, and then decide for yourself".
The Spanish editorial board discusses new accusations from Madrid. They allegedly favored the independence of Catalonia.
Javier Rodriguez Carrasco, news anchor: "It is very easy to write loud headlines that Russia is to blame for everything. And thus, label such media as Russia Today. We are now at gunpoint, we are scapegoats, which some governments take out their problems on".
It's clear that the information front will not become calmer in the near future. So the RT team are determined to struggle.
Margarita Simonyan: "We will work for as long as we are allowed, and when we are not allowed to work, we will work anyway because it's our profession, and we aren't going to give it up".
Evgeny Rozhkov, Viktor Prikhodko, Alexander Feoktistov, and Pavel Alekseev for Vesti — News of the Week.