Witch hunt season in the media space
The US presidential elections took place a year ago, but the passions surrounding Trump's election are not going to subside. After the fight, the losing side intends to swing their fists until they go crazy, using any far-fetched excuse. The further we go, the more intense is the schizo of the American elites, who have mentally returned to the 1950s with their McCarthyism, spy mania and “witch hunts,” for which they themselves blushed and apologized not so long ago. The theme of “the Kremlin’s help in Trump’s presidential race” was chosen as the main driving force and justification for the protracted psychosis of the American authorities.
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American congressmen and the FBI are especially enthusiastic about searching for the “invisible hand of Moscow.” With the search results, things are extremely bad - “you can’t catch a black cat in a dark room, especially if it’s not there,” but the hyperactivity of officials requires a way out. For example, open a new season of “witch hunt”.
The “hunting season” that started along with the autumn aggravation set its target not on hypothetical “Russian hackers”, but on something more material. Even the “Russian spies”, who for many decades served as a horror story for the average person, have been forgotten. The US authorities decided to strike at the Russian media, which work for the American audience and have long been disturbing local politics with their alternative view of events in the world, which is very different from the settings of the “Washington regional committee”.
At the end of September, the US Department of Justice put forward a requirement to register the Russian TV channel Russia Today as a foreign agent. At the same time, similar requirements were not imposed on other influential foreign media holdings operating in the United States. In particular, the British broadcaster BBC, the German Deutsche Welle and the Chinese television company CCTV operate without any restrictions from the US Department of Justice.
On the other hand, Google suggests that the Japanese news channel NHK, as well as the Chinese publications China Daily and Xinmin Evening News, are registered as foreign agents in the United States.
It would seem, what's the difference? After all, everyone already knows that RT is a Russian television channel and is financed from Russia. Accordingly, the BBC receives money from the UK, CCTV from China and so on. Well, a foreign agent - so what?
In fact, the status of a foreign agent changes a lot. In particular, according to the American Foreign Agents Act (FARA), which has been in force since 1938, foreign agents are required to disclose to the US authorities not only sources of funding, but also many different sensitive data, such as staffing, personal information about journalists, information on income and expenses , as well as about concluded agreements. Information materials must be accompanied by a message stating that they are being distributed by a foreign agent. Thus, the most powerful levers for putting pressure on journalists and defaming undesirable media outlets fall into the hands of the American intelligence services.
The pressure on Russian media in the United States does not come out of the blue, but is a program of the “Fund for Countering Russian Influence,” for which Congress allocated a quarter of a billion dollars in August as part of legislatively approved anti-Russian sanctions.
Unfortunately, the reason for continued unfriendly actions on the part of the United States was given by the supreme power of the Russian Federation, passively reacting to the expulsion of Russian diplomats, the confiscation of Russian diplomatic property and the literally Hitlerite invasion of Russian consulates, in which searches were carried out and documents were seized, contrary to all international laws and regulations, which The US has pledged to comply. Like, “Trump is under pressure - we need to give him time.” At the same time, for some reason, the rule of thumb that the United States is not a country that understands and appreciates generosity has somehow escaped the attention of decision-makers.
At the end of October, the first warning bell rang that the US authorities intended to seriously play the political games they had started. The popular social network Twitter announced the start of blocking advertising on RT and Sputnik channels, despite contracts and prepayments. At the same time, the owners of Twitter hypocritically allowed RT and Sputnik to use their social network as ordinary users. Like, freedom of speech is above all, we don’t kick anyone out.
And who will now blather that American social networks do not operate under the dictation of the authorities and intelligence services? Conspiracy theorists can give themselves a plus with a pure heart.
Judging by the reaction of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Washington’s next demarche should not go unanswered. At one of the briefings, Foreign Ministry speaker Maria Zakharova warned that if RT’s pressure continues, mirror measures will be applied to the American media in Russia.
A month and a half passed after Zakharova’s statement and, apparently, it was ignored in Washington, since similar statements were made during the expulsion of Russian diplomats, and on November 14, the head of RT and Sputnik Margarita Simonyan, followed by the US Department of Justice, announced that RT America was registered and included in the list of foreign agents working in the “hotbed of democracy.”
As Simonyan said at the briefing, the choice of TV channel was between registration and a criminal case. “For which we congratulate American freedom of speech and everyone who still believes in it,” she added.
No matter what the American official buzz is about that FARA does not interfere with the spread of freedom of speech, the law on foreign agents can easily be used to strangle unwanted media at the hands of American law enforcement and security agencies. Considering the bias and far-fetched nature of the investigation into the “hand of Moscow” case, there is no hope for an impartial trial. If desired, RT in America can be fined, put under pressure and, if the highest will so permits, closed.
In other words, in addition to the sanctions war, the United States opened a “second front” of the information war against Russia.
What about Russia? Last Friday, on behalf of State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, a working group was created to develop legislative amendments that would provide for responses to the harassment of Russian media in the United States. Information has appeared about which American mouthpieces in Russia will be the first to be subject to retaliatory distribution.
According to observers, the list of foreign agents may include Radio Liberty, Voice of America, CNN, and Bloomberg. It is very possible that the BBC and Deutsche Welle may join the list of foreign agents along with American mouthpieces.
Well, the times when there were unwritten agreements regarding the work of foreign media in Russia and Russian media abroad that no one would interfere with anyone and that oxygen would not be cut off have come to an end. Now national justice ministries will make decisions about which foreign media outlets will be allowed to operate in a foreign country and who should be allowed to leave.
Honestly, certainty, even if it’s not the most pleasant one, is much better than uncertainty and informal agreements, especially if you’re dealing with “dear partners” like the United States. In any case, Russia will not be left at a loss, since catching a lie, revealing fraud and giving the same “Radio Liberty” and “Voice of America” a heavy kick in the ass is a real benefit for the country.
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