RT TV network feed now on DirecTV satellite in the USA

[Bob]

Under Obama we had Al Jazeera, now RT TV makes it to DirecTV satellite.

Al Jazeera didn't last long and their contract was not renewed.

ref http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/22/media/al-jazeera-america-what-went-wrong/index.html

Did RT Television do something to gain the blessings of the Trump Administration?

ref - https://tvanswerman.com/2017/08/28/directv-adds-russia-today-but-not-in-hd/

"DIRECTV today added RT, formerly known as Russia Today, as reported last week by the TV Answer Man."


RT, which is on channel 321, is not available in High-Definition on DIRECTV, but just standard-definition. That’s usually a sign that the channel is paying DIRECTV for carriage rather than the other way around.

RT is a 24/7 news channel that provides live news reports, documentaries and talk shows supporting the view of the Russian government, which funds the channel.

While the channel’s mission clearly is to voice the objectives of the Putin regime, American politicians such as former Rep. Ron Paul are frequent guests.

"The channel’s shows also include The News With Ed Schultz, anchored by the former MSNBC personality, and Larry King Now, an interview program featuring the former CNN star."

(TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann)


==========================

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_America


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 in part 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 an alternative 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, corporatism, 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 online through RT's primary website.

Current Notable news personalities on the network are:


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)


Satellite network availability


Dish Network Nationwide:
Channel 280 (HD/SD)
Washington, D.C. area:
Channel 8084 (HD/SD)
DirecTV Channel 321 (SD)
GlobeCast WorldTV Channel 462



https://madardaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/28-1.jpg

[avid]

They have fabulous documentaries as well as news. Rarely watch tv, but this channel is much less 'biased' than others.

[Bob]

I don't have a network show lineup yet, but curious to hear from the "list of network personalities". Been watching some of those documentaries.

And news.. I've seen RT on international satellite early on ( and of course internet feed ), but being on satellite for network, video just eats up so many bytes of data, and on metered data, it's hard to watch video's or listen to audios.

Seeing it on the satellite on a "non-premium" channel I think will put it into the affordable range for those not on unlimited cable, (such as my self).

The dialog is certainly different than any of the existing MSM, at least for what I've seen briefly..



They have fabulous documentaries as well as news. Rarely watch tv, but this channel is much less 'biased' than others.

[Whiskey_Mystic]

How was Al Jazeera related to Obama? Not sure what's being said here. Are you saying that Obama was a terrorist sympathizer and Al Jazeera is a terrorist propaganda platform? I hope not, because that would sound extremely ignorant.

Al Jazeera is one of the best news sources available. While CNN, FOX, and MSNBC report on the Kardashians and lie their asses off, Al Jazeera reports real news in the old tradition of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather. We need more of that today.

[Cidersomerset]

RT for me has provided balance for several years now particularly RT international
https://www.youtube.com/user/RussiaToday/videos and RT America
https://www.youtube.com/user/RTAmerica/videos. I cannot talk for the others
RT UK is not updated very often so is not so good imo. I obviously post RT
items often.

I also look at the BBC web daily and most US and other outlets including
alternate ones. Yes RT has agendas as with every other news/information
outlet mainstream or alternate and they have been under pressure particularly
by the US political establishment since Hillary and others pointed out they
were losing the propaganda war a few years ago......


L6sYB5d1Bu4

Published on 3 Mar 2011
The U.S. is losing an information war to alternative media outlets, including RT.
That's the message from Hillary Clinton to Congress members, who are questioning
the State Department's US $47 billion budget request for next year. And as RT's
Gayane Chichakyan reports, the U.S. Secretary of State says Washington needs to
step up its propaganda efforts.


====================================================


One of best current affairs shows on any news channel at the moment is Cross
Talk imo , which I just happen to be listening to as I type.

The main show is a North Korea situation update , in overtime they discuss
the statue backlash and finish with Trumps cabinet.

CrossTalk: Bullhorns: Breakdown?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMPw1Ierq6U

Published on 4 Sep 2017
The spiral downward – this applies to both Russia-U.S. relations and the continuing
events on the Korean peninsula. Have we passed the point of no return?
CrossTalking with Mark Sleboda, Victor Olevich, and Alex Christoforou.
FACEBOOK: Like CrossTalk on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/crosstalkrules/

[Bob]

Al Jazeera : rolling the way back machine...


Obama Hosts Boss of Terror Channel Al-Jazeera

By Cliff Kincaid | April 15, 2011 (Accuracy in Media)

"[...] the anti-American channel works hand-in-glove with the Muslim Brotherhood and its associated terrorist groups, including al-Qaida and Hamas. Nothing has changed. In fact, Al Jazeera has become more open about its work as a foreign policy instrument of Qatar, including the promotion of al-Qaida-linked terrorist groups in Syria." ref from http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2013/08/20/egypt-moves-against-al-jazeera-as-cnn-reporters-embrace-it/

In fact, Qatar is a dictatorship with no freedom of the press.

President Obama on Thursday hosted Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani of Qatar, otherwise known as the Boss of Al-Jazeera, for a meeting in the Oval Office.

Obama called him “Your Highness” and “His Highness,” even though the Emir dropped his robes of royalty for a business suit.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani financially sponsors Al-Jazeera and its most famous personality, anti-American and anti-Semitic cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has just returned to Egypt from Qatar to supervise the transformation of that one-time U.S. ally into an Islamic state.

“In addition to our efforts in Libya,” Obama said, “we have a strong relationship between our two countries. It is an economic relationship. It is a military relationship. It is a cultural relationship. And obviously, Qatar has done very well under His Highness’s leadership, but his influence extends beyond his borders. And so we’ve had discussions about how we can continue to promote democracy, human rights, increased freedom and reform throughout the Middle East.”

The influence “beyond his (b)orders” could be a reference to Al-Jazeera, described in one of the WikiLeaks cables from the U.S. as an instrument of foreign policy for the Qatar regime.

The Emir gave an interview to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer the same day he met with Obama, and made the rather absurd comment that although he, and the government of Qatar, finances Al-Jazeera, “it is impossible for me to have influence to tell Al Jazeera what to do. Because they are journalists, and they will understand if the emir of Qatar is interfering in their—in their job.

They will not respect the job they are doing. Even internationally, Al Jazeera will not be respected.”

This is laughable, of course. In addition to the WikiLeaks cable about the regime using Al-Jazeera as a foreign policy instrument, the U.S. State Department’s own human rights report on Qatar notes, “Al- Jazeera and the government claimed that the channel was independent and free of government influence, but the government exercised editorial and programmatic control of the channel through funding and selection of the station’s management.”

Maybe Blitzer believed the Emir—he certainly didn’t challenge him—but the idea that Al-Jazeera’s journalists won’t respect him if he influences their reporting, and therefore he doesn’t, does not pass the laugh test. The Emir pays the bills—and the salaries of the journalists who work there.

Although Obama talks about human rights and democracy in the Middle East, the White House report on the meeting said nothing about the imprisoned Qatari blogger, Sultan al-Khalaifi, who was apprehended on March 1 by Qatar’s security forces and has not been heard of since. His detention is further proof of how the Emir controls the media in that country.

The White House said, “Qatar’s location in the Persian Gulf has made it an important ally in a region vital to U.S. economic and security interests. As democracies continue to grow and flourish throughout the Arab world, working with nations like Qatar will become ever more important.”

In fact, Qatar is a dictatorship with no freedom of the press. It is also a state sponsor of terrorism, though not officially designated as such, even while hosting a U.S. military base.

As we have noted, “…the 9/11 commission demonstrated (page 90) that Qatar has been protecting terrorists, including the mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. A recently released cable from WikiLeaks goes further, saying that Qatari nationals were involved in 9/11 and may still be on the loose.” One cable released by WikiLeaks said that the regime has “adopted a largely passive approach to cooperating with the U.S. against terrorist financing” and that terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda “exploit Qatar as a fundraising locale.” The cable adds that Qatar’s security services “have been hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals.”

An AP story said, “Obama said afterward he appreciated the emir’s leadership in Libya, where rebels, spurred on by popular uprisings elsewhere in the region, are trying to force Gadhafi to step down.” The story made no mention of reports that the rebels include members of al-Qaeda.

The story noted a moment of levity, saying, “Obama also congratulated the emir on Qatar’s selection as host of World Cup soccer in 2022. He noted he’ll be an ex-president by then and made a pitch for good seats.”

“I will not forget to send your tickets for the World Cup,” the Qatari dictator said. Obama replied, “Thank you, my friend.”

Once again, the United States is getting rolled by an Arab dictatorship, this time Qatar, and the major media pretend not to notice.

As I put it in a recent column for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “…Qatar’s Arab monarchy cultivates good public relations by spending lavishly on American politicians and congressional staffers—as well as journalists and academics—to come to the capital of Doha for junkets and opulent conferences. The tours usually include visits to Al-Jazeera.”

Qatar is represented in Washington, D.C. by Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, a Republican-oriented lobbying firm that worked with the staff of Barack Obama on behalf of Qatar when he was a senator.

The money also continues to flow to the media. Former CNN anchor Tony Harris has joined Al-Jazeera English in search of the petro dollars flowing from its owner, “His Highness” the Emir. Harris, however, is not the first journalist to bolt from CNN to Al-Jazeera. Lucia Newman, who is based in Buenos Aires for Al-Jazeera English, had been CNN’s Havana bureau chief and correspondent.

It is significant that Al-Jazeera is a member of the U.S.-Qatar Business Council, which includes several major U.S. oil companies, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Airways, and Brown Lloyd James, the public relations agency trying to get more carriage for Al-Jazeera in U.S. media markets. Brown Lloyd James also represents the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar.


How was Al Jazeera related to Obama? Not sure what's being said here. Are you saying that Obama was a terrorist sympathizer and Al Jazeera is a terrorist propaganda platform? I hope not, because that would sound extremely ignorant.

Al Jazeera is one of the best news sources available. While CNN, FOX, and MSNBC report on the Kardashians and lie their asses off, Al Jazeera reports real news in the old tradition of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather. We need more of that today.

[Bob]

What's Cliff Kincaid saying about RT America? (aim.org is his website)

ref: http://www.aim.org/aim-column/a-fake-bill-to-promote-fake-news/

(It seems that Kincaid in numerous articles appears to have questioned the apparent biases of RT and Al Jazeera)

Kincaid speaks below:


Accuracy in Media has noted that RT hosts Thom Hartmann and Ed Schultz are not Trump supporters or conservatives, but in fact are progressives connected to the Democratic Party. Schultz used to work for MSNBC.

In a brief interview I had with Hartmann, he refused to say how much the Kremlin paid him for his show on RT, “The Big Picture.” He then grabbed my camera.

In a January 19 article, we noted that AIM has published literally dozens of stories over the years about RT’s service to the Moscow regime. We asked, “So why didn’t the Obama Justice Department act on TV producer Jerry Kenney’s complaint that RT should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and be labeled as foreign propaganda? That’s what the law requires.”

The answer is that RT didn’t become a problem for the liberals and the Democrats until they perceived that Moscow’s agents had deserted their cause, and that the Russian angle could be used for partisan political purposes against Republicans.

In that AIM article, I also noted that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) dismissed my well-documented 2012 complaint about RT’s open support for libertarian Ron Paul in the 2012 Republican presidential primary. We cited evidence that RT was funded by the Kremlin and prohibited under law from intervening in U.S. elections. The FEC dismissed the complaint, saying RT was a legitimate press entity and a U.S. corporation with First Amendment rights.

Where was the outrage over that ruling?

The stated purpose of the Shaheen bill, the Foreign Agents Registration Modernization and Enforcement Act (S.625), is “to preserve the integrity of American elections by providing the Attorney General with investigative tools” to crack down on foreign agents who unlawfully influence our political process.

“We have good reason to believe that RT News is coordinating with the Russian government to spread misinformation and undermine our democratic process,” said Shaheen. “The American public has a right to know if this is the case.”

The American public who have been reading AIM already know. Plus, RT once aired its own video showing Vladimir Putin reviewing its broadcast operations in Moscow.

It’s no secret that RT is Moscow-financed and run.

Kenney commented, “Now that the Democrats have lost the White House, Shaheen is shocked to see that foreign influence operations are going on here. Where has she been for the last few years as Obama’s DOJ refused to investigate Vladimir Putin’s Russia Today, Qatar’s Al Jazeera and Communist China’s CCTV (China Central Television)?”

Kenney notes that these foreign propaganda operations are packaged as “news” and have been airing on 30 taxpayer-supported public educational TV stations via the MHz Network Worldview, a network offering “international news and entertainment” in English. “To my knowledge, these ‘news’ channels still have not registered or published disclosures as required by FARA, even though there is ample evidence in the public domain that they are actually foreign government propaganda operations,” he says.

If Shaheen is so concerned about foreign influence, he went on to say, “why didn’t she do something to stop the FCC’s recent rule change that fast tracks 100 percent foreign ownership of America’s radio and TV broadcasters? In all fairness to Senator Shaheen, the Republicans didn’t oppose it, either.”

Kenney said that if the politicians in Washington are really serious about foreign influence operations in the U.S., they could veto the new FCC rule by using the Congressional Review Act.

The Shaheen bill has only three co-sponsors, with one, Senator Todd Young of Indiana, a Republican. Young’s involvement as a Republican fellow-traveler makes it a piece of “bipartisan legislation.”

If Shaheen is serious about exposing RT’s ties to Russia, perhaps she could ask fellow progressive Thom Hartmann to provide testimony about RT, including the facts and figures about his Moscow funding that he won’t talk about publicly.

It would be easy enough for him to show up at a Senate hearing.

His “Big Picture” program is filmed live and broadcast from the RT America studios in Washington, D.C.

Cliff Kincaid

(Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism)

[avid]

However.... it is good to be able to have the choice of viewing both RT and Al Jazeera, then compare their news to the 'party-line' MSM pap and disinfo. One has to laugh at so-called 'different' news channels, only to find they ply their blatherings almost identically, verbatim in some cases, almost as if they have been 'prompted' - good grief, perish the thoughts of independent journalism?

[Bob]

However.... it is good to be able to have the choice of viewing both RT and Al Jazeera, then compare their news to the 'party-line' MSM pap and disinfo. One has to laugh at so-called 'different' news channels, only to find they ply their blatherings almost identically, verbatim in some cases, almost as if they have been 'prompted' - good grief, perish the thoughts of independent journalism?

I suppose the question is, just where DO the MSM reporters get their "news" - for a while back I noticed some reports/posts that I posted on PA were being utilized as "source info" for further research on at least FOX news.

It may be a curious exercise to see why Cliff Kincaid (aim.org) has his biases.

(One would have to go to the internet, and pay the bandwidth costs (if on satellite), to be able to view Al Jazeera again. )

[avid]

Bob! You 'Foxy' wee devil, but we all knew that didn't we! 😉

[Whiskey_Mystic]

I invite you to watch Al Jazeera for thirty days. If after that time you still want to cut and paste ridiculous bull**** off the internet instead of drawing your own conclusions, then hey I say go for it. Not everyone is meant to think for themselves. Cheers!