RT Demands Explanation From BBG, Dept. of State And NYTimes In Response To BBG Chief Naming RT On Par With ISIS, Boko Haram

MOSCOW, Jan. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- RT sent an official request for retraction and apology to the three organizations. The letter concerns comments made by Mr. Andrew Lack, the newly appointed chief executive of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, in the interview with the New York Times. Mr. Lack is quoted as saying:  "We are facing a number of challenges from entities like Russia Today which is out there pushing a point of view, the Islamic State in the Middle East and groups like Boko Haram."

The letter, from RT's editor in chief Margarita Simonyan, was sent to the BBG, the editors of the New York Times and the US Department of State. It reads:

"The New York Times article 'U.S. Seeking a Stronger World Media Voice', allowed the newly appointed chief executive of the BBG Andrew Lack to implicitly equate RT, an international news network, with terrorist organizations Islamic State and Boko Haram.

Journalists are not terrorists. RT journalists risk their lives every single day to report on events from Syria to Ukraine. In fact, RT correspondents are often the targets of the exact terrorists and extremists with whom they are presented to be on par by Mr. Lack and the New York Times.

RT is outraged that the new head of the BBG, which in essence represents the US Department of State and thus the United States Government, expressed such views, and that the US' 'newspaper of record' published these remarks without any challenge or attempt to provide balance in their report.

RT demands immediate retraction of the aforementioned statement, and an apology and an explanation from the US State Department, the Broadcasting Board of Governors and the New York Times as to why RT, a news organization that provides a fresh perspective on the events in the world, was put in the same sentence with extremist, terrorist groups that had taken thousands of lives."

RT journalists also started a social media campaign, under hashtag #NEWSISNOTTERROR to bring attention to the issue of ethical treatment of journalists from all media organizations.

More here: http://rt.com/news/225543-rt-isis-us-broadcaster/

RT is a global news network that broadcasts 24/7 in English, Arabic and Spanish from its studios in Moscow and Washington, DC, and is available to 700 million viewers worldwide. RT is the first TV news channel in history to cross the billion views mark on YouTube. RT is the winner of the Monte Carlo TV Festival Awards for best 24-hr broadcast, and the only Russian TV channel to garner three nominations for the prestigious International Emmy Award for News.

SOURCE RT