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[rooster59]

Russia's Putin signs "foreign agents" media law

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir (not pictured) during their meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, November 23, 2017. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law on Saturday new measures allowing authorities to list foreign media outlets as "foreign agents" in response to what Moscow says is unacceptable U.S. pressure on Russian media.

 

The new law has been rushed through both Russian houses of parliament in the last two weeks. It will now allow Moscow to force foreign media to brand news they provide to Russians as the work of "foreign agents" and to disclose their funding sources.

 

A copy of the law was published on the Russian government's online legislation database on Saturday, saying it entered into force from the day of its publication.

 

Russia's move against U.S. media is part of the fallout from allegations that Russia interfered in last year's U.S. presidential election in favour of Donald Trump.

 

U.S. intelligence officials have accused the Kremlin of using Russian media organisations it finances to influence U.S. voters, and Washington has since required Russian state broadcaster RT to register a U.S.-based affiliate company as a "foreign agent".

 

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied meddling in the election and said the restrictions on Russian broadcasters in the United States are an attack on free speech.

 

The Russian Justice Ministry last week published a list of nine U.S.-backed news outlets that it said could be affected by the changes.

 

It said it had written to the U.S. government-sponsored Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), along with seven separate Russian or local-language news outlets run by RFE/RL.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-26

 

[Emster23]

Just some tit for tat. US requires RT (Russia today, for those who might not watch) to register as foreign agent, so Putin says fine, same to ya

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

force foreign media to brand news they provide to Russians as the work of "foreign agents" and to disclose their funding sources.

This law is just an extension of the 2012 "foreign agents law" that required those NGOs that receive foreign funding and engage in "political activity" to register as "foreign agents" with the Ministry of Justice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_of_Russia#Media_agencies

That law made the existence of many NGOs practically impossible. But one NGO charged with  “maliciously evading the requirements of a Foreign Agent” got the case curtailed due to “lack of evidence of a crime”.  https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/daria-skibo/five-years-of-russia-s-foreign-agent-law

So there might be legal issues with the success of the new law.

Furthermore, for publicly traded foreign media organizations the new law is likely meaningless. For example stock exchange listed companies shares may be held in "street names" such as E-Trader. Putin will need another law to drill down further.

[connda]

Quid pro quo.

[Jingthing]

8 hours ago, Emster23 said:

Just some tit for tat. US requires RT (Russia today, for those who might not watch) to register as foreign agent, so Putin says fine, same to ya

But it's not the same. Even an extreme like Fox "News" which acts as propaganda organ for trump is not technically run and controlled by the U.S. government. False equivalencies. But facts and truth don't seem to matter these days. 

[Morch]

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

But it's not the same. Even an extreme like Fox "News" which acts as propaganda organ for trump is not technically run and controlled by the U.S. government. False equivalencies. But facts and truth don't seem to matter these days. 

 

I don't know that it applies to all media outlets:

 

Quote

The Russian Justice Ministry last week published a list of nine U.S.-backed news outlets that it said could be affected by the changes.

 

It said it had written to the U.S. government-sponsored Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), along with seven separate Russian or local-language news outlets run by RFE/RL.

 

[Jingthing]

Looking into this further, I am finding that the language of the Russian bill would potentially allow including networks like CNN. That doesn't mean it will, but it COULD.

 

 

Quote

 

Russian parliament votes for law that could list CNN as 'foreign agent'

...
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, has not ruled out the expulsion of US media outlets or correspondents, and has promised the ministry will prepare a “surprise” for the west when drawing up its retaliatory measures.

“We have received so many appeals from our citizens demanding that we do something about American media outlets,” Zakharova told state television last week.

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/15/russia-to-register-international-media-as-foreign-agents

Edited November 26, 2017 by Jingthing

[observer90210]

The "wall" was torn down, but have things deeply changed all that much ?

[Srikcir]

10 hours ago, connda said:

Quid pro quo.

Putin doesn't do quid pro quo; he does ex uno plura (from one, many).

Kind of like Trump's "Anybody who hits me, we're gonna hit them 10 times harder."

[Emster23]

15 hours ago, Jingthing said:

But it's not the same. Even an extreme like Fox "News" which acts as propaganda organ for trump is not technically run and controlled by the U.S. government. False equivalencies. But facts and truth don't seem to matter these days. 

Well, it's the closest Putin could do. Tit for tat, not tat for tat, or tit for tit.... I know most US news orgs not run by government, except things like VOA, etc. Similar to "you smack me on the chin, I whack you in the stomach". Couldn't just let it go. A false equivalency is better than none I imagine is Putin's thinking.