Current Time: the independent Russian-language news network

Event

Current Time: the independent Russian-language news network

February 7, 2017

The Atlantic Council, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and Voice of America (VOA) held an official introduction and discussion about the new Russian-language TV network, Current Time.

Known as “Настоящее Время” in Russian — a term that connotes “current,” “real,” and “true,” Current Time is a 24/7 digital network, providing Russian-speaking audiences with accurate and independent local, regional, and international news. Current Time connects Russian speakers in more than ten strategic countries with each other and the world, on digital platforms, social networks, satellite, and cable TV.

RFE/RL and VOA launched Current Time to provide audiences with an alternative to the Moscow-controlled media and provide a reality check on disinformation.

This event was open to press and on the record.

Event Information

February 7, 2017, 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

RFE/RL and VOA have launched Current Time — an alternative Russian language network to the Moscow-controlled media and a reality check on disinformation. Known as “Настоящее Время” in Russian — a term that connotes “current,” “real,” and “true,” Current Time is a 24/7 network, providing Russian-speaking audiences in more than ten strategic countries with accurate and independent local, regional, and international news. Current Time connects Russian speakers with each other and the world, on digital platforms, social networks, satellite, and cable TV.

Atlantic Council
1030 15th Street, NW, 12th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

For more information, please contact BBG Public Affairs at (202) 203-4400 or by e-mail at pubaff@bbg.gov.

Speakers

John F. Lansing joined USAGM as CEO and Director in September 2015. Lansing’s previous experience includes nine years as President of Scripps Networks, where he is credited with guiding the company to become a leading developer of unique content across various media platforms including television, digital, mobile and publishing. Most recently, Lansing was President and Chief Executive Officer of Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), a marketing association comprised of 90 of the top U.S. and Canadian cable companies and television programmers. There, Lansing oversaw the development of business strategies and marketing initiatives that position cable television companies for continued growth as they compete with emerging digital content platforms. Lansing also brings a deep understanding of journalism from roles as an award-winning Photojournalist and Field Producer, Assignment Manager, Managing Editor, and News Director at several television stations earlier in his career.
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Thomas Kent is a specialist in international reporting, Russian affairs and journalistic ethics. He joined Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on June 27, 2016, after a career of more than 40 years at The Associated Press. Most recently, he was AP’s standards editor, responsible for the fairness and accuracy of the news agency’s content in text, photos, video, audio, interactives and on social networks. He also served with AP as international editor, World Services editor, Moscow bureau chief, Brussels-based correspondent for European institutions and NATO, chief of operations in Tehran during the Iranian revolution, correspondent in Sydney, Australia, and Hartford, Connecticut, and foreign desk editor in New York. He founded the “Create Your Own Ethics Code” project for the Online News Association. He has written and spoken worldwide on journalistic ethics, including ethical issues for such new journalistic platforms as virtual reality and automated newswriting. An advisor to the Ethical Journalism Network, Kent has been a board member of the Organization of News Ombudsmen, a Pulitzer Prize juror in international reporting and an advisor to the Society of Professional Journalists on revisions to its ethics code. He was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, holds a degree in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University and speaks Russian, French and Spanish. He has taught and advised at Columbia University since 1996.
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Amanda Bennett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, investigative journalist and editor and was named Director of the Voice of America in March 2016. Through 2013, she was Executive Editor, Bloomberg News, where she created and ran a global team of investigative reporters and editors. She was also co-founder of Bloomberg News’ Women’s project. She was editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer from June 2003 to November 2006, and prior to that was editor of the Herald-Leader in Lexington, Kentucky. She also served for three years as managing editor/projects for The Oregonian in Portland. Bennett served as a Wall Street Journal reporter for more than 20 years. A graduate of Harvard College, she held numerous posts at the Journal, including auto industry reporter in Detroit in the late 70s and early 80s, Pentagon and State Department reporter, Beijing correspondent, management editor/reporter, national economics correspondent and, finally, chief of the Atlanta bureau until 1998, when she moved to The Oregonian. Bennett shared the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting with her Journal colleagues, and in 2001 led a team from The Oregonian to a Pulitzer for public service. Projects by the Bloomberg Projects and Investigations team won numerous awards, including Loeb, Polk, Barlett & Steele, Headliners, Society of American Business Editors and Writers and Overseas Press Club Awards. She was a member of the board of the Pulitzer Prizes from 2003 to 2011 and served as co-Chair of the Pulitzer Board in 2010. She also served on the boards of the Loeb Awards, the American Society of News Editors; and of the Fund for Investigative Journalism as well as the board of advisers of the Temple University Press; the board of directors of Axis Philly, a nonprofit local news site; and of the Rosenbach Museum, a Philadelphia museum of rare books. She is the author of six books including “In Memoriam” (1998), co-authored with Terence B. Foley; “The Man Who Stayed Behind” (1993), co-authored with Sidney Rittenberg; “Death of the Organization Man” (1991) and “The Quiet Room” (1996), co-authored with Lori Schiller. “The Cost of Hope,” her memoir of the battle she and Foley, her late husband, fought against his kidney cancer, was published in June 2012 by Random House. Together with her husband, Donald Graham, she is a co-founder of TheDream.US, which provides college scholarships to the children of undocumented immigrants.
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Daisy Sindelar
Director, Current Time (RFE/RL)
Irina Van Dusen
Director, VOA Russian Service
Melinda Haring (Moderator)
Editor, UkraineAlert, Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council

United States Agency for Global Media

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