By James Simons-
Russia Today has had its license to broadcast in the UK revoked with immediate effect after watchdog Ofcom said it did not consider the channel “fit and proper” or a “responsible broadcaster”.
The media regulator said that it had taken into account “a number of factors” including the fact that the news channel was funded by the Russian state “which has recently invaded a neigbouring sovereign country”.
Ofcom also cited new laws in Russia “which effectively criminalize any independent journalism that departs from the Russian state’s own news narrative, in particular in relation to the invasion of Ukraine”.
“We consider that given these constraints it appears impossible for RT to comply with the due impartiality rules of our Broadcasting Code in the circumstances,” the regulator added.
YouTube had already blocked access across Europe to Russia’s state-funded international broadcasters, RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik – including to the UK. The decision by You Tube on February 27 to expanded sanctions against Russia by the European Commission, which saw RT, Sputnik and their subsidiaries, banned across the EU.
The move by Youtube was due to rising concerns about the potential for RT to spread harmful misinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
RT responded to the decision by saying Ofcom had shown itself to be “nothing more than a tool of government, bending to its media-suppressing will”. The Kremlin said it was “madness”. The channel is already off air in the UK due to EU sanctions which have affected the Europe-based satellite operator that distributes the channel across the continent.
Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said: “Freedom of expression is something we guard fiercely in this country, and the bar for action on broadcasters is rightly set very high.
“Following an independent regulatory process, we have today found that RT is not fit and proper to hold a licence in the UK.
“As a result we have revoked RT’s UK broadcasting licence.”
The decision comes amid 29 ongoing investigations by Ofcom into the impartiality of RT’s coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ofcom said: “We consider the volume and potentially serious nature of the issues raised within such a short period to be of great concern – especially given RT’s compliance history.”
RT usually gives strictly factual – albeit heavily curated – news coverage that prioritises sources and perspectives that correspond with Russian interests. These are made more relatable with commentary from NGOs, alternative news websites, or fringe political parties from across the US, UK and Europe, where RT is broadcast.
RT was fined £200,000 by Ofcom for breaching impartiality rules after it broke the British broadcasting code on seven occasions over the Salisbury novichok poisoning.
The channel became unavailable on all UK broadcast platforms earlier this month as a result of a ban imposed by the European Union.
The EU applied sanctions to satellite companies in Luxembourg and France, which provided the RT feed to Sky, Freesat and Freeview.RT has also been blocked on YouTube but its website is still available in the UK.
UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who has described the channel as “Putin’s polluting propaganda machine”, said at the time she hoped it would not return to UK screens.
Misinformation
RT has regularly informed its audience that the Kremlin’s assertion that its goals were “demilitarisation and denazification”. It’s association of the Ukrainian establishment with the far right is not entirely false- one of its military units, the Azov Regiment, does have neo-Nazi links.
However, Ukraine’s most recent elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky is a Jewish speaker of the Russian language , making the claim that the Ukraine government is “Nazi regime in the middle of Europe” false.
RT’s Ukraine coverage has also suggested that Russia’s actions have a legal basis- a false claim that has disturbed critics.
There is the obvious question of whether RT should be entitled to freedom of expression, but with Russia unlawfully disrupting the freedoms of the Ukranians in a brutal war, giving license to its broadcaster to justify such a war has been considered inappropriate.