Russian News Group Walks Tightrope in Covering U.S. Election

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/us/politics/russia-media-rt-dnc.html

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PHILADELPHIA — The American news media is wildly overplaying Russia’s role in a major email leak. The Democratic National Convention was troubled by chaos and dissent. Donald J. Trump’s request for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to hack Democratic emails was a joke that American pundits simply did not get.

Such is the worldview presented by RT, the state-run, Moscow-based international news organization that, this week, found itself in a strange position: covering an American presidential election where Russia is suddenly playing a major role.

The network, formerly known as Russia Today, has long been scrutinized for being a propaganda outlet of sorts for the Putin government, which oversees its finances. But its American arm, which attracts about eight million weekly viewers, has aspired to more mainstream success, hiring a team of on-the-ground journalists and familiar, if past-their-prime, television stars like Larry King and the former MSNBC anchor Ed Schultz.

That balancing act has been strained by Russia’s suspected role in the release of stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee, a leak widely viewed as an attempt to meddle with the American election process. But the small group of RT journalists in Philadelphia said this week that their only instructions were to find fresh angles in a crowded news marketplace.

“People think, as a reporter for state media, that I have to toe this line, and speak to a narrative all the time,” Lindsay France, the channel’s lead presidential campaign correspondent, said in an interview.

“Have I ever gotten a phone call that says, ‘You need to cover a story this way or that way’? No,” Ms. France said. She added: “If I had serious dilemmas, I would have left a long time ago.”

Still, RT’s coverage has tended to emphasize a theme of America in disarray. President Obama’s convention speech on Wednesday was notable for being “upstaged by T.P.P. protesters and other noisy audience members,” according to the opening paragraph of an article on the channel’s website. On Friday, its lead story on Hillary Clinton’s climactic address was an item about Bill Clinton being “caught napping” during the remarks.

Then there is Mr. Trump, who shocked the American foreign policy establishment by seemingly inviting Mr. Putin to hack the emails of the Democratic leader. RT’s site features a skeptical headline — “MSM Misses Trump’s Joke on Russia & Hillary Emails” — and notes that American news outlets “freaked out.”

“Mainstream media can apparently no longer tell the difference between when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is being bombastic and when he’s joking,” read the article, which ran without a byline, as is the case with other RT articles. (Mr. Trump has said his remarks were sarcastic.)

Contacted for this article, representatives from RT issued a lengthy statement from the network’s editor in chief, Margarita Simonyan, who wrote: “There is no special policy for treating any news stories differently when they pertain to Russia.”

But, Ms. Simonyan added, “It is alarming to see the American political and media establishments across the political spectrum painting Russia as the ultimate boogeyman, referring to it exclusively as a menace, a thug, or a dictatorship.”

“The same talking heads never mention the rampant crackdowns by the absolute monarchies, theocracies and ruthless strongmen allied with the U.S.,” Ms. Simonyan added.

RT was founded in 2005 as an arm of a state-owned news conglomerate, RIA Novosti, intended to serve as a counterbalance to coverage by Western media companies. (Current slogan: “Question More.”) RT America, based in Washington, began in 2010, and its site pledges to deliver “stories overlooked by the mainstream media to create news with an edge.”

This week, those stories have focused on dissatisfied supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who were infuriated by the leaked Democratic emails. Mrs. Clinton’s nomination came amid “sharp divisions and mass disappointment of Sanders’s delegates,” the network reported.

Video of skirmishes between protesters and the police in Philadelphia were prominently featured, even though such episodes were relatively rare at a convention that was more peaceful than some observers had expected it to be.

Ms. Simonyan, the editor in chief, said that the American news media’s focus on Russia’s presumed role in the leak was overblown.

“There are 10 times as many articles about Russia’s supposed involvement with the DNC emails than there are about what’s actually in the emails,” Ms. Simonyan wrote. “Hypothetical Russia connections are being used by other Americans to discredit a major party’s nominee, and yet Russia’s the one sabotaging the process?”

Ms. France, the correspondent, put it this way: “People call us propaganda. We take a look at what we see every day, and we do something different.”

In an interview, Mr. King, the former CNN star who now anchors a prime-time interview show on RT, said that he had never received directions on coverage from the network. He said he was surprised that Russia was now such a dominant focus of the American political conversation.

“I’m almost expecting Putin to come to America to make a speech,” Mr. King said by telephone from Los Angeles. “Obviously, Putin wants Trump to be the president. I’ve never heard that before from a Russian president.”

His biggest concern, Mr. King said, is that Mr. Trump, whom he has known for decades, has so far declined to appear on his show during this election cycle.

“Donald Trump is the easiest guy to book in the world,” said Mr. King, who has said he will probably vote for Mrs. Clinton. “He has not responded lately, and I have no reason for it. I’ve always been friends with him, we go back 40 years.”

“He keeps saying, ‘next Tuesday, a week from Tuesday,’ ” Mr. King said. “I’m a little disappointed.”