Foreign Agents Law

38 results arranged by date

Russia designates independent outlets Meduza and PASMI as ‘foreign agents’

New York, April 26, 2021 – Russian authorities should reverse their decision to designate independent media outlets Meduza and PASMI as foreign agents, and should repeal or reform the country’s foreign agent law, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 23, Russia’s Justice Ministry added the independent Latvia-based news website Meduza to its…

Read More ›

Proposed Venezuelan foreign funding law could have ‘huge impact’ on independent outlets

When Ewald Scharfenberg launched the investigative news website Armando.Info in 2014, about half of his start-up funds came from Venezuelan donors, subscribers, and advertisers, while overseas foundations provided the rest. But amid the worst economic crisis in Venezuela’s history, local income has disappeared, forcing Scharfenberg to rely almost entirely on international donations to keep Armando.Info…

Read More ›

CPJ joins call for Nicaragua government to stop restricting press freedom

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined three other human rights organizations in a joint statement commemorating Nicaragua’s national Day of the Journalist and calling on authorities to end the widespread harassment of members of the press, and ensure media outlets and press freedom organizations can work safely. In the statement, CPJ joined three regional…

Read More ›

Russian regulator announces fines for RFE/RL outlets under expanded ‘foreign agent’ law

New York, January 14, 2021 – Russian authorities should repeal the country’s foreign agents law to ensure that local and foreign news outlets can work freely, and in the meantime refrain from fining media organizations over alleged violations of the law, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 12, Roskomnadzor, the country’s media…

Read More ›

Nicaraguan ruling party legislators propose law requiring some media outlets, journalists to register as “foreign agents”

Managua, Nicaragua September 24, 2020 – The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Nicaraguan congress to reject a proposed law that would force media outlets and journalists to register as “foreign agents” if they receive funding or payments from abroad. The law, proposed on September 22, would require individuals and organizations that receive…

Read More ›

RT's Moscow offices are seen on June 8, 2018. The company is among several foreign-owned outlets that have been forced to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act in the United States. (AFP/Yuri Kadobnov)

Several foreign news outlets required to register as foreign agents in US

Since 2017, U.S. legislators and the Department of Justice have required multiple foreign-funded news organizations to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), a law designed to compel transparency from agents of foreign entities operating inside the United States, according to news reports, public records, and letters from the Department of Justice.

Read More ›

Yevgenia Albats, editor-in-chief of The New Times, speaks at the Women of the World Summit in New York City in April 2018. A Russian court has ordered her news outlet to pay a fine of 22.3 million rubles. (AFP/Angela Weiss)

Russia uses ‘foreign agents’ law to hit independent outlet with massive fine

New York, October 29, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned an exorbitant fine imposed on the independent news outlet The New Times. A Moscow court on October 26 ordered the outlet to pay 22.3 million rubles (US$338,000) for failing to provide financial information under Russia’s “foreign agents” law and ordered the outlet’s editor-in-chief Yevgenia…

Read More ›

Cars drive in front of the building housing Russia's State Duma. The lower house voted in January to approve a bill that will require some journalists to register as foreign agents. (AFP/Mladen Antonov)

Russia votes on bill to require journalists to register as foreign agents

Kiev, January 16, 2018–Russia’s State Duma should drop a bill that would require some bloggers and journalists to register as foreign agents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Duma on January 12 voted overwhelmingly to approve the bill, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Read More ›