Russia Today Banned in the UK: ‘Not Fit and Proper to Hold a Licence’
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia-backed RT’s broadcasting license has been revoked in the U.K., due to the outlet’s biased reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
RT, formerly Russia Today, has been significantly hindered in its ability to push Russian narratives with relation to the war on the people of Ukraine since the beginning of March.
On March 1, DirecTV shut the state-run outlet’s broadcast down, five days after Russia had invaded Ukraine.
Here were the final moments of RT (Russia Today) as @DirecTV removed it at 1:00 p.m. Eastern over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
RT ran a Medicare ad & five promos (including one that said RT doesn’t “skew the facts”) before a message read, “This channel is no longer available.” pic.twitter.com/QYGLBEZMJY
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 1, 2022
A day after the network was shut off in the U.S., RT editor-in-chief Maria Baronova resigned in protest of Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion. RT America quickly laid off most of its staff.
The Kremlin-backed media agency received more bad news on Friday, after the broadcasting regulator in the U.K., Ofcom, pulled its license.
Ofcom said in a press release “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 agency added:
Today’s decision comes amid 29 ongoing investigations by Ofcom into the due impartiality of RT’s news and current-affairs coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We consider the volume and potentially serious nature of issues raised within such a short period to be deeply concerning – especially given RT’s compliance history, which has seen the channel fined £200,000 for previous due-impartiality breaches.
This investigation has taken account of a number of factors, including RT’s relationship with the Russian Federation. It has recognised that RT is funded by the Russian state, which has recently invaded a neighbouring sovereign country. We also note new laws in Russia which effectively criminalise 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.
Ofcom noted that RT was already pulled off of the air in the U.K., citing European Union sanctions against Russia.
The agency also stated that while RT has a right to freedom of expression, audiences have a right to accurate information.
“We take seriously the importance, in our democratic society, of a broadcaster’s right to freedom of expression and the audience’s right to receive information and ideas without undue interference,” Ofcom said. “We also take seriously the importance of maintaining audiences’ trust and public confidence in the UK’s broadcasting regulatory regime.”
