‘Foreign Agent’ filing leads Congressional media to revoke RT press access

UPDATE: T&R Productions released a statement Thursday responding to the Radio-Television Correspondents' Galleries' decision:

T&R Productions was informed of the decision of the Executive Committee of the Congressional Radio and Television Correspondents Galleries to withdraw T&R’s news credentials. The decision to withdraw credentials was prompted by T&R’s recent FARA registration. T&R disagrees with and is disappointed by this decision. Withdrawal of T&R’s news credentials on the basis of T&R being required to register under FARA runs directly counter to the notion that FARA is not intended to interfere or restrict fair journalistic freedom and media access. We hope the executive committee will reconsider its vote.

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) – The Radio-Television Correspondents’ Galleries has revoked the credentials of a state-funded Russian media group from Capitol Hill according to a letter sent to the network.

RT, a Russian government-funded television network, received the correspondence from the media association Wednesday explaining the decision – pointing to the recent registration of its operating company as “a foreign agent.”

T&R Productions LLC registered with the Department of Justice as an agent of ANO TV-Novosti on Nov. 10, according to CNN.

“The rules of the Galleries state clearly that news credentials may not be issued to any applicant employed ‘by any foreign government or representative thereof,’” the revocation letter states.

“Upon its registration as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), RT Network became ineligible to hold news credentials.”

Responding to the letter, Editor-in-Chief of RT Margarita Simonyan released a statement, “To all the self-righteous defenders of the 'freedom of speech' who oh-so-ardently proclaimed that FARA registration places no restrictions whatsoever on RT's journalistic work in the US: withdrawal of Congressional credentials speaks much louder than empty platitudes.”

The accreditation change was stated to be effective “immediately,” and was a unanimous decision.