RT Registers Under U.S. Foreign Agent Registration Act

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that T&R Productions, LLC (T&R), a Washington, D.C., corporation, registered today under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as an agent for ANO TV-Novosti, the Russian government entity responsible for the worldwide broadcasts of the RT Network (RT). Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Dana J. Boente said, “Americans have a right to know who is acting in the United States to influence the U.S. government or public on behalf of foreign principals.”

Americans have a right to know who is acting in the United States to influence the U.S. government or public on behalf of foreign principals.

DOJ says FARA does not inhibit freedom of expression

According to the DOJ press release (link below), Congress passed FARA in 1938, intending to ensure that the American public and lawmakers know the source of information that is provided at the behest of a foreign principal, where that information may be intended to influence U.S. public opinion, policy and laws. The DOJ asserted that the law does not restrict registrants from operating freely in the United States and that there are other U.S. agents of foreign media entities currently registered under FARA who continue to do so today.

According to the DOJ, FARA does not “inhibit freedom of expression, does not restrict the content of information disseminated, does not restrict an agent’s lobbying or publication of information or advocacy” and applies neutrally to all foreign countries. It requires public disclosure of certain activities and relationships through registration by “agents of foreign principals” with the Justice Department. FARA does not limit publishing of materials or viewpoints; it requires only registration, labeling of informational materials and broadcasts, and recordkeeping.

RT Signals Legal Battle

Since August 2014, T&R has operated studios for RT, hired and paid all U.S.-based RT employees, and produced English-language programming for RT, which is both shown on cable networks across the United States and available on RT’s website. At the time of this posting, the number two story on RT’s website, “Forcing RT to register as ‘foreign agent’ is a ‘horrendous blow to press freedom’”, provides a different perspective on the filing than the DOJ.

In the article, RT cites its own RT Editor-in-Chief, Margarita Simonyan, as saying that RT filed the FARA registration under threat of legal action from the U.S. government and intends to go to court to prove that Washington’s demands violate US law. “This demand is discriminative, it runs counter to the principles of democracy and the freedom of speech,” she said.

Entities registered under FARA are supposed to file a copy of everything they publish with the US Justice Department within 48 hours of transmission, the CPJ said, pointing out that this requirement could be technically applied to individual social media posts, text messages, and broadcasts.

Warning from Committee to Protect Journalists

The RT article also cites a warning from the Committee to Protect Journalists that FARA’s current regulations could make the work of a news media outlet in current age of social media “de facto impossible”. “Entities registered under FARA are supposed to file a copy of everything they publish with the US Justice Department within 48 hours of transmission, the CPJ said, pointing out that this requirement could be technically applied to individual social media posts, text messages, and broadcasts.”

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Resources and Additional Info:

• DOJ press release, “Production Company Registers Under the Foreign Agent Registration Act as Agent for the Russian Government Entity Responsible for Broadcasting RT“
• Committee to Protect Journalists
• Forcing RT to register as ‘foreign agent’ is a ‘horrendous blow to press freedom’
• T&R’s filings are available to the public at www.fara.gov.