News&Events
May 24, 2008.RT HELPS OUT KIDS IN NEED
Since April 2005, when RT began, we’ve helped a group of orphans in Russia’s Tula region with clothes, books, toys, sports gear and other equipment to make their lives better. We’ve made good friends with the kids at the Yasnopoliansky orphanage and we meet often. On May 24, the ‘Match of the Century’ was held between the orphanage and RT football squads.
We trained hard for the event, but when the game started it was not even close. The orphanage kids, who train with each other every day, showed great teamwork and skill. They took control from the start and didn’t give the RT squad a lot of chances.
We managed to put four goals in the opponents net, but conceded nine. 9-4 it ended. But the defeat didn’t disappoint us at all. This game was not about the score. We were just proud for the kids. After the final whistle the kids received gifts from RT. The company’s employees had taken four packed car trunks of summer clothes for the children.
We all had a most wonderful time. In August the orphanage turns 60, and we are invited to join the anniversary celebrations. And once again we are planning to prepare presents for the children and get the supplies for the upcoming school year.
November 27, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY LAUNCHES A HOLIDAY MARKETING BLITZ THROUGHOUT NEW YORK CITY
“FROM RED SQUARE TO TIMES SQUARE”
New York, NY – Russia Today, a 24/7 television news channel covering international news, business, culture and sports will run its first holiday marketing campaign throughout New York City, announcing the channel’s launch in four NYC boroughs, Mt. Vernon, Hudson Valley and Bergen and Hudson Counties, New Jersey on Time Warner Cable. The English-language news channel began to air on Time Warner Cable on August 30, 2007.
The campaign consists of grassroots initiatives throughout Manhattan from November 19th until New Year’s Eve, as well as a 30-second spot that will be in heavy rotation on both Times Square’s NASDAQ Tower and The Reuters Sign.
To attract the attention of New York City viewers, Russia Today added a touch of Russian culture to the city’s holiday season. From Thanksgiving until New Year’s Eve, a branded double-decker bus filled with 100 traditional Russian holiday characters will be seen throughout the city. Father Frosts (Russian Santas,) along with their Snow Maidens (Santa’s Granddaughters,) will visit several Manhattan landmarks including Times Square, Columbus Circle, Grand Central Station, Madison Square Garden, Rockefeller Center, and Bryant Park as well as other locations. In the spirit of the season, gifts will be given as well as informational material on the channel.
November 26, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY WINS PRESTIGIOUS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA AWARD
LONDON, November 26- The official results of the international Media Excellence Awards – 2007 have been announced. The awards are handed out annually by the Association for International Broadcasting, which unites the biggest TV and radio companies from around the world.
Russia Today's report “Chernobyl Anniversary” (correspondent Aleksey Yaroshevskiy, cameraman Andrey Suzy) won a special award for the “Clearest coverage of a single news event”. Only the work of CBS News gained a higher evaluation than the Russian channel in this category. It won the Grand Prix.
The Russia Today TV-channel is the first and only Russian TV-company affiliated to the Association for International Broadcasting. In 2007, the channel participated in the awards for the first time and was immediately short-listed in three categories, including the most prestigious “International Television Channel – 2007” and “Clearest coverage of a single news event” and “Best television programme”. This year, the prizes were awarded in 12 categories. Large international broadcasters such as the BBC, CBS, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg, France 24, Al Arabiya were among other Association members nominated for various awards.
November 7, 2007.
JOURNALISTS OF RUSSIAN ENGLISH-LANGUAGE NEWS CHANNEL“RUSSIA TODAY” SUFFERED FROM GEORGIAN POLICE ACTIONS
Ekaterina Azarova, a correspondent with the Russian English-language news channel “Russia Today”, and cameraman Evgeny Litovko, were caught-up in the Georgian Police crackdown.
Ekaterina Azarova was conducting a live television broadcast when Georgian special forces began to spray tear gas and use water cannons in order to break up the opposition protest.
As a result, the “Russia Today” team suffered gas poisoning.
Nevertheless, the news channel “Russia Today” continues to provide live coverage of the events in Georgia.
October 23, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY FILMING CREW DENIED ESTONIAN VISAS
Without explaining the reasons, the Estonian Embassy in Russia has refused to issue entrance visas to director Artem Somov and correspondent Alexander Luchaninov, two journalists working for Russia Today, Russia's satellite television channel broadcasting in English.
The crew was due to work on a documentary investigating problems related to neo-Nazis activism in the former soviet Baltic States. Alexander Luchaninov intended to produce for air a lengthily balanced story on the different points of view regarding this on-going story.
The channel regrets that the Estonian Embassy has barred Russia Today's crew from pursuing its professional duty to provide objective information about developments in the post-Soviet space to international TV audiences.
This would have been Alexander Luchaninov's second trip to Estonia. During previous visits, Russia Today correspondents and crew covered events linked to the demolition of the soviet war monument known as the “Liberator Soldier” in April 2007.
September 12, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY BECOMES AVAILABLE TO MILLIONS OF NEW YORK VIEWERS
Russia Today is now available to Time Warner Cable of New York and New Jersey digital cable customers on Channel 135. Russian Today was added to Time Warner Cable's digital cable service as of August 30th. Time Warner Cable of New York and New Jersey serves over 1.4 million customers in four NYC boroughs (Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and western Brooklyn), Mt. Vernon, Hudson Valley (Orange, Sullivan, Ulster Counties and parts of Dutchess, Greene and Delaware Counties) and Bergen and Hudson Counties, New Jersey.
July 18, 2007.
AFTER A BRIEF TECHNICAL BREAK RUSSIA TODAY RESUMES BROADCASTING FROM A NEW STUDIO COMPLEX
The studios are designed with regard for every technological requirement and world visual standard. There are lighting devices, mixer consoles and all the equipment necessary for quality telecasting. Four cameras and a specialized studio boom are additional assets energizing the show. Russia Today hopes its audience will appreciate the new design, the new color gamut and the new quality.
June 29, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY SURPASSES CNN AND BLOOMBERG IN AUDIENCE SHARE IN MOSCOW
According to a public survey carried out by Magram Market Research as requested by the NTV Plus satellite television company, the share of monthly audience of the Russia Today TV channel was 16 % in Moscow and 25 % in other regions of Russia.
The audience of Russia Today in Moscow is higher than the respective figure of CNN that has reached 15 %. The Bloomberg TV channel specializing on financial and economic news is interesting for 14 % of the Moscow respondents.
At the same time, 5% of the audience watch Russia Today nearly every or every day, 21 % of the respondents do this once or twice a week and 14 % – fewer than once a week.
15 % of the Moscow respondents are employed in the industrial sector, 12 % – in the finance, banking and insurance sectors, 6 % – in public management and another 6 % – in science and education. 39% of the polled are mid-managers and 16 per cent are top managers.
The survey sampled more than 2,000 subscribers of NTV Plus in Moscow and other regions of Russia and was carried out in a way of telephone interviews from December 2006 to February 2007. Men and women aged 16 to 60 took part in the survey.
June 9, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY WINS THE GRAND PRIX OF INTERNATIONAL ECOLOGICAL TV FESTIVAL
Russia Today’s “Meeting with Nature” documentary series received the Grand Prix of the 11th Ecological TV festival “Save and preserve” held in Khanty-Mansiysk from 5 to 9 June, 2007. The channel was awarded the Golden Loon statuette for its documentary series “Meeting with Nature” competing in the TV Project nomination. The series covers the unique plants and wildlife in remote areas of Russia, endangered aquatic species inhabiting Sakhalin, the unparalleled Ugra preserve, and more.
284 programmes and films including those from TV-channels such as Russian Ren-TV and German Deutsche Welle competed in 10 nominations. The festival has gathered over 200 participants representing 20 states including Italy, France, Germany, Brazil, China. The festival was attended by more than 200 delegates from 20 world countries such as Italy, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, China and many others. The prizes were handed down by a jury that included, among others, Mikhail Degtyar, Lev Nikolayev, and Alexander Khabarov.
June 4, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY IS THE FIRST RUSSIAN BROADCASTER THAT HAS LAUNCHED A BRANDED CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE
Russia Today, the English-speaking Russian news channel, has launched a branded channel on YouTube, the leading online video sharing website.
The new channel will give the YouTube community access to the Russia Today content http://www.youtube.com/russiatoday, including top reports, news stories and documentaries. The content will be updated daily which will allow the YouTube users to watch highlights from Russia Today’s broadcasts with minimum delay.
The BBC, NBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera and other channels have been working with YouTube for some time now. Russia Today is the first Russian channel to make their content available on this new and popular platform.
May 25, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY TV CHANNEL ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF TWO MORE PROGRAMMES
TV News channel Russia Today has launched two new projects: “The Media Mirror” and “Technology Update”.
“The Media Mirror” – is a 3 minute long digest of the Russian press shown daily every two hours. The host of the programme, Evgeny Belenky, reviews the leading articles from the country’s most read newspapers and magazines. The programme will give Russia Today viewers around the world the chance to find out what’s topping the agenda in the Russian press. The other new addition, “Technology Update” is a look at new innovations, scientific potential and the latest technological developments in Russia. For half an hour every month host Paul Tadich discovers what’s happening in Russian science and technology, including getting behind the wheel of the latest tank, testing bionic boots and researching the most efficient ways to produce electricity.
May 14, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY TV CHANNEL BECOMES AIB’S FIRST RUSSIAN MEMBER
Russia Today TV channel has officially announced its membership of the Association for International Broadcasting. The association was set up in 1993 as an industry community of media companies oriented to international broadcasting. AIB unites the world’s best known TV companies, including the BBC, Euronews, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, etc.
The AIB promotes direct contacts between members, supplies market intelligence upon request, holds various trade events and offers multiple other benefits for its members. The Association for International Broadcasting is an independent non-profit organization. It was set up in 1993 to ensure effective cooperation between the world’s leading broadcasters and trade communities, and to provide information and marketing services. Based in the UK, AIB has offices in Europe, South and South-Eastern Asia, and in the Middle East. AIB works in regular cooperation with more than 18,000 experts from various non-member electronic media.
May 3, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY EXPANDS IN EUROPE
The Russia Today TV channel has officially announced an expansion of its coverage in Europe. Starting May 3, more than 750,000 viewers in Belgium and the Netherlands will have an opportunity to watch Russia Today.
Such leading satellite TV operators as CANALDIGITAL (Netherlands) and TV VLAANDEREN (Belgium), which broadcast via Astra 19,2 satellite, became partners of Russia Today.
According to signed agreements, RT news programmes will be included into two packages of CANALDIGITAL and TV VLAANDEREN, broadcasting on the 67th and 62nd channels respectively.
The deal in Belgium and the Netherlands will bring Russia Today's total audience in Europe closer to a record 16 MLN viewers – more than a 30% growth in less than six months.
April 2, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY EXPANDS ITS PRESENCE IN THE US MARKET
RT and MHz Networks, an independent, noncommercial, U.S television network, officially announced signing an agreement. MHz Networks broadcasts in the city of Washington and the District of Columbia and has millions of viewers.
The agreement signed makes Russia Today available on the MHz5 channel on air and in the Comcast cable network. Due to the cooperation with MHz Networks, Russia Today’s news and programmes will be broadcast round-the-clock to about 9 million viewers in the Washington metropolitan area.
February 9, 2007.
RUSSIA TODAY BEGINS DOCUMENTARY FILMS PRODUCTION
Russia Today has announced that it will start the production of its own, in-house documentary films, with the first series, titled “Unrecognized Republics”, expected to be on-air on March 2, 2007. New 26-minute documentaries will appear three times a month. Every documentary presents a unique history, covering events and developments which, in some way, are connected with Russia. The films, which feature western-style narration, will explore all opinions and viewpoints. The author will remain off camera – allowing viewers space for consideration and independent conclusions.
