Industry News media | Founded 9 December 2013 | |
Type Federal State Unitary Enterprise Headquarters Zubovsky Boulevard 4, Moscow, Russia Key people Dmitry Kiselyov
Margarita Simonyan Products Wire service, international radio, internet website | ||
Rossiya Segodnya (Russian: Россия Сегодня, Rossíya Sevódnya; [rɐˈsʲijə sʲɪˈvodʲnʲə]) is a news agency wholly owned and operated by the Russian government, created by an Executive Order of the President of Russia on December 9, 2013. "Rossiya Segodnya" directly translates from Russian into English as "Russia Today", but should not be confused with the TV network RT, which was known as Russia Today prior to 2009. However, the station is sometimes referred to as "Russia Today" or the "New Russia Today" in foreign media.
Contents
Rossiya Segodnya incorporates the former RIA Novosti news service and the international radio service Voice of Russia (formerly Radio Moscow). According to the Decree of the President of Russia, the mandate of the new agency is to "provide information on Russian state policy and Russian life and society for audiences abroad." Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, said that Rossiya Segodnya was being created in order to increase the cost efficiency in Russian state media. However, RIA Novosti's own report about the move speculated it was an attempt to consolidate state control over the media sector and Western news outlets stated that this was also a move by Putin to propagate a more pleasant image of Russia abroad.
According to a report on the RT news channel, Rossiya Segodnya is "in no way related" to the RT news channel despite the similarity in name (RT was known as Russia Today prior to its rebranding in 2009). However, a report by the BBC states that it "seems likely [...] that [Rossiya Segodnya] will complement the work of the state-funded foreign-language TV station, RT." On 31 December 2013, Margarita Simonyan was appointed editor-in-chief of the news agency, as well as being RT's news channel editor-in-chief. She will serve in both positions concurrently.
On 10 November 2014, the agency launched the Sputnik multimedia platform with Radio Sputnik as its audio component, replacing the Voice of Russia. The radio service is available internationally on FM, digital DAB/DAB+ (Digital Radio Broadcasting), HD-Radio, as well as mobile phones and the Internet. Within Russia itself, Rossiya Segodnya continues to use the RIA Novosti brand as its Russian-language news agency using the website ria.ru.
Operations
Allegations of homophobia
This organisatation will be headed by Dmitry Kiselyov, a pro-Putin news presenter on the domestic Rossiya 1 television channel, who had gained significant controversy in the Western media with his remarks claiming foreign conspiracies against Russia and verbally abusing homosexuals.
Dmitry described as the "spearhead" of such anti-LGBTQ propaganda on the network, making various provocative comments regarding the Russian LGBTQ community. He has stated that a gay person's organs are unworthy of being transplanted heterosexual, and that gay men should be prohibited from donating blood or sperm. The Russian LGBTQ community has also been referred to by Dmitry as an "aggressive minority" opposed to "parents fighting to give their children a healthy upbringing", stating falsified statistics that "40% of children brought up by homosexuals have venereal diseases".