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RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a global multilingual television news network based in Russia and funded by the Russian government.

Below are the controversies and criticisms of RT.

Criticisms of news content

Allegations of pro-Putin and Soviet bias

According to a variety of sources such as Der Spiegel and Reporters Without Borders, the channel presents pro-Kremlin propaganda. Russia Today staff have nonetheless claimed that their coverage was fair and balanced. A 2005 VOA report interviewed Anton Mosik, chief editor of a major English-language computer internet site in Russia,in which he described the creation of Russia Today as an idea smacking of Soviet-style propaganda campaigns, and also noted that the channel was not created as a response to any existing demand. while another article in the Digital Journal called RT a "pro-Putin news outlet" and its advertising campaign as "open propaganda war."

A 2009 article by journalist Luke Harding for The Guardian reporting on RT's advertising campaign described the network as "unashamedly pro-Vladimir Putin" and part of the Kremlin's attempt to create a "post-Soviet global propaganda empire." The article also interviewed RT's editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan where she said the network "takes a pro-Russian position" and was unrepentant about RT's pro-Russian coverage of the 2008 Russian-Georgian war. In 2011, an article by The Guardian reported that Harding had been expelled from Russia for unspecified reasons. The expulsion was believed to be the first of a British staff journalist from Russia since end of Cold War.

An article published in The New Republic by James Kirchick characterized the news reportage of Russia Today as, "virulent anti-Americanism, worshipful portrayal of Russian leaders, and comical production values," that "can't help but revive the pettiness that was a distinctive feature of Soviet-era propaganda."

An article in the non-profit news media watchdog organization Accuracy in Media criticized RT as a "propaganda network funded by the Moscow regime of Vladimir Putin" and charged that it "regularly features Marxist and radical commentators. The article also cites the description of the network by former KGB officer Konstantin Preobrazhensky as “a part of the Russian industry of misinformation and manipulation” designed to mislead foreign audiences about Russian intentions." Furthermore, Preobrazhensky argues that Russia Today utilizes methods of propaganda that are "managed by Directorate 'A' of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service...with the specialty of Directorate ‘A’ is deceiving world public opinion and manipulating it. It has got a lot of experience over decades of the Cold War."

In response, according to RT's editor, the channel welcomes controversy as it "provides an alternative to mainstream media."

Allegations of supporting conspiracy theories

Critics have challenged the neutrality of RT's reporting and suggested that the channel has provided a platform to conspiracy theorists. A September-October 2010 article in the Columbia Journalism Review called Russia Today a Kremlin propaganda outlet featuring "fringe-dwelling experts" and "was just a way to stick it to the U.S. from behind the façade of legitimate newsgathering."

On the occasion of RFE´s 60th anniversary in Washington DC (sept 2010), Walter Isaacson (appointed by President Barack Obama the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors), says about RT, Presstv (Iran), CCTV (China), and Telesur (pan-Latin American): "we can't allow ourselves to be out-communicated by our enemies..."

Criticisms of coverage of specific news incidents

During the 2008 South Ossetia War Russia Today correspondent William Dunbar resigned saying "he real news, the real facts of the matter, didn't conform to what they were trying to report, and therefore, they wouldn't let me report it." Human Rights Watch said that the claim of 2000 South Ossetian casualties, announced by Russia Today, was "exaggerated." The Moscow correspondent for the Independent said that Russia Today's coverage of the war was "obscene", claiming that the channel was "extraordinarily biased" and had "instructed reporters not to report from Georgian villages within South Ossetia that had been ethnically cleansed."

In July 2010, RT covered the annual gathering of Waffen-SS veterans of the Battle of Tannenberg Line in Estonia, labeling the event pro-Nazi.

Criticisms of news interviews

A June 2010 interviewed conducted between Rand Paul and RT was criticized in a Media Matters for America blog and called RT a, "Kremlin-backed, 9-11 conspiracy news organization."

A post in Politico by Ben Smith criticized an interview between Alex Jones and Russia Today discussing Osama bin Laden death conspiracy theories called Russia Today a "raw propaganda channel."

Staff controversies

An article in The Daily Telegraph reported that alleged spy suspect Katia Zatuliveter was now working for RT.

References

Controversial Propaganda: Using Stalin To Boost Russia Abroad Der Spiegel 20 November 2007
Reporters Without Borders Don’t Fancy Russia Today Kommersant 21 October 2005
Russian News, English Accent: New Kremlin Show Spins Russia Westward CBS News 12 December 2005
"New Global TV Venture to Promote Russia". VOANews. 06-07-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ Camphausen, R.C. "Russia Today in propaganda war of words and images Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/286048#ixzz1JdjGscfI". R.C.Camphausen. Digital Journal. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
^ Luke Harding (18-12-09). "Russia Today launches first UK ad blitz". The Guardian. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ Dan Sabbagh (07-02-11). "Guardian's Moscow correspondent expelled from Russia". The Guardian. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Kirchick, James (02-18-09). "Pravda on the Potomac". The New Republic. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ "KGB TV to Air Show Hosted by Anti-war Marine Vet". Accuracy in Media. 05-04-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Russia Today Courts Viewers With Controversy The Moscow Times 17 March 2010
Airwaves wobbly The Economist: Eastern Approaches 6 July 2010
^ Ioffe, Julia (2010). Columbia Journalism Review http://www.cjr.org/feature/what_is_russia_today.php. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
RFE´s 60th anniversary on rferl.org 24:00min, sept 29 2010, www.rferl.org
Russian TV reporter resigns after station cancels his Georgian broadcasts The Guardian, citing the Moscow Times 12 August 2008
Death toll in South Ossetia reaches 2,000 Russia Today 10 August 2008

Russia exaggerating South Ossetian death toll, says human rights group The Guardian 13 August 2008

From Russia with news The Independent 15 January 2010.

Politsei puistas Lätist Sinimägedesse sõitnud antifašiste Delfi 31 July 2010

RT: Keep Out! Anti-Nazis blocked as SS vets meet in Estonia

Bunch, Will (06-01-10). "So Rand Paul shunned "Meet the Press" for a Kremlin-backed, 9-11 conspiracy news org?". Media Matters for America. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Smith, Ben (03-05-11). "Alex Jones on Russia Today". Politico. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

"Russian spy suspect to work for Russian TV". The Daily Telegraph. 19-03-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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Controversies and criticisms of RT