UK Regulator Finds Russian Channel RT in Breach of Impartiality Rules Over Ukraine War

Vehicles of Russian state-controlled broadcaster Russia Today (RT) are seen near the Red Square in central Moscow on June 15, 2018. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

Russian TV channel RT breached due impartiality rules on 29 occasions in four days following the invasion of Ukraine, the UK’s broadcasting regulator has found.

Ofcom investigated RT news bulletins and a documentary broadcast between Feb. 27 and March 2, and found the RT’s coverage “failed to preserve due impartiality in relation to the conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine.”

Ofcom said it considers the breaches “serious and repeated,” and is “minded to consider them for the imposition of a statutory sanction.”

The regulator noted that broadcasters must comply with its broadcasting code when dealing with “major matters such as wars or areas of conflict” and that this included giving “due weight to a wide range of significant views.”

Sanctions

RT is no longer broadcasting in the UK. Ofcom revoked RT’s broadcast licence on March 18, citing new laws in Russia that “effectively criminalise any independent journalism that departs from the Russian state’s own news narrative,” which made it impossible for RT to comply with the due impartiality rules in the UK’s broadcasting code.

UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said at the time that the channel’s “lies and propaganda” had “absolutely no place on our screens.”

On March 31, the UK government imposed sanctions on a number of Russian media organisations and “propagandists” for spreading “lies and deceit” about the war in Ukraine, including the Kremlin-backed TV-Novosti, which controls RT, as well as RT’s Managing Director Alexey Nikolov.

The Foreign Office said the sanctions “will ensure RT will not be able to find its way back on UK televisions, and will prevent companies and individuals operating in the UK from doing business with Russian state propaganda vehicles RT and Sputnik, and key figures in those organisations.”

Retaliation

Russia has also placed restrictions on British news organisations. Shortly after the outbreak of the war, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the BBC of playing “a determined role in undermining the Russian stability and security.”

In early March, BBC World News said it had been taken off air in Russia.

Last month, dozens of UK journalists and media organisations were sanctioned by Russia over what the Kremlin called their alleged “deliberate dissemination of false and one-sided information.”

Among those on the list of 29 individuals were BBC Director-General Tim Davie, The Times of London’s Editor John Witherow, The Guardian’s Editor-in-Chief Katharine Viner, Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Telegraph Chris Evans, BBC Chairman Richard Sharp, and Managing Director of The Independent, Christian Broughton.

PA Media contributed to this report.