President Trump's Department of Justice is requiring my employer, @ajplus, to register as a foreign agent.

They claim "AJ+ acts 'at the direction and control' of Qatar’s rulers."

That's absolutely absurd (THREAD) https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/09/trump-doj-al-jazeera-fara-uae-qatar/

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we produced this @TheWebbyAwards-winning piece about a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor who continues to fight white supremacists to this day? (CC: @raji47ram @MaraVanElls)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we produced this touching, regional @NewsEmmys-winning series on the Chinese immigrant experience in America – and how Chinatowns (and Chop Suey) came to be? (CC: @dollyli)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we produced this @BeardFoundation-nominated doc on the glory – and painful history – of Native American cuisine? (CC: @tabish_talib)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we interviewed an ER doctor about the horrors of #Covid19 that brought countless viewers to tears – and challenged those who downplayed COVID-19? (CC: @IsabeauD_ & @katmhayes)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we produced a series on tensions between North Korea and the US that won us the prestigious Edward R Murrow (aka: @RTDNA) Award? (CC: @Dena @shadirahimi @Alessandra_Ram)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we visited one of America's poorest towns – in Tennessee – to produce an illuminating piece on the anxieties and divisions in a sliver of pro-Trump America? (CC: @ase)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we looked at how (fossil fuel-induced) climate change and deforestation, paired with Australia's bushfires, are decimating Australia's koala population? (CC: @GelarehDarabi)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we produced (and still produce) a @TheWebbyAwards-nominated, @shortyawards-winning, painstakingly researched political comedy series that tackles our most pressing issues? (CC: @franifio)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we explored how Black women and the LGBTQIA+ community were responsible for bringing us the pure bliss that is disco? (CC: @SanaSaeed)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we investigated how China's had placed over a million members of an ethnic minority in concentration camps? (CC: @MashaalMir)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we covered how LGBTQ asylum seekers are seeking refuge in Costa Rica? (CC: @_danalvarenga)

Or when we followed a Rohingya refugee after they escaped persecution – and mass killings – to find a new home in America? (CC: @aishagani)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we explored the racial disparities in why some Americans can swim – and others cannot? (CC: @CydLaine)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers when we produced a @CapitalEmmys-winning documentary series on America's Deaf community? ( @maggiebeidelman @JunStinson + Emily Gibson)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we produced this @TheWebbyAwards and @shortyawards-winning doc on how we can all fight food waste in America? (CC: @AdrienneBlaine)

Or when my colleagues braved backbreaking schedules and conditions to bring round-the-clock, on-the-ground reporting on BLM, DAPL, refugees, and then TIE w/ the @NYTimes for an @ONA Award for "General Excellence in Online Journalism"? (CC @etharkamal) https://awards.journalists.org/awards/general-excellence/large-general-excellence/

Or when we diligently worked to piece together the untold story of the largest revolt of enslaved people in US history, opening many of our fellow Americans' eyes to a piece of history they'd probably never heard of? (CC: @iiwrites)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we routinely covered America's budding cannabis industry? (and, in this case, the inspiring efforts being made to right the racial wrongs of its history?) (CC @dena)

Were we acting "at the direction and control of Qatar's rulers" when we explored how Japanese women are being exploited – and stifled – in their economy? (CC: @TaekoItabashi)

Or when we amplified Maya voices to explain why Indigenous people were dying at such disproportionately high rates at the US border? (CC: @_danalvarenga)

Or when we covered a campaign about horrifically disrespectful selfie-taking tourists at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, a site that honors the millions of Jews who lost their lives in one of humanity’s most horrific atrocities? (CC @dylanbergesson)

Or when we showed how a passionate chef is trying to keep her culinary heritage alive, against all odds, by unearthing and updating centuries-old recipes? (CC @sara_salman)

Or why a popular American hip hop song perpetuated orientalist stereotypes about Middle Easterners? (CC: @MidEasternist)

Or a ferociously researched, meticulously crafted documentary about the flaws that exist in our bail system – and how they can be rectified? ( @angienassar, @ahmadasaad04, @raji47ram)

Or this beautiful human story – which melted my heart – about a mother and her children walking from Honduras to the United States, in hopes of starting a new life? (CC: @TupacSaavedra)

I feel guilty for being unable to include each and every piece from each and every colleague – their phenomenal reporting, their integrity, their work ethic, their professionalism, their dedication to shining the flashlight where, so often, it's not shined.

But I want to make this point: the notion that we're acting at the "direction & control of Qatar's rulers" is preposterous.

This is a politically motivated attack on journalists.

And it will not stop us from telling the stories we tell – at our own direction, & our own control