Author: Alfredo Escolar

Russia Today broke broadcast rules nearly 30 times before the station was pulled from UK TV screens for its coverage of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ofcom has found RT to have breached impartiality rules in each of the 29 investigations launched into the Kremlin-backed news channel for its coverage of the war.

They covered the period before RT was permanently banned from the UK airwaves in mid-March in response to Mr Putin’s ban on independent journalism. Moscow has introduced new laws punishing journalists with 15 years in prison for deviating from the Kremlin party line.

Ofcom is now considering further sanctions after finding the broadcaster failed to ‘maintain due impartiality’ over the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbass region and committed ‘serious and repeated’ breaches of the broadcasting code .

As RT is no longer broadcast in the UK, the regulator could choose to fine the network or limit its operations in the future if it decides to reapply for a UK broadcast license. United.

RT was forced to broadcast Ofcom’s decisions and was fined £200,000 in 2019 for breaching impartiality rules for its reporting on the Salisbury poisonings and the war in Syria.

Ofcom investigated the impartiality of 15 RT newscasts on February 27, another 12 on March 1, one on March 2, plus the documentary Donbass yesterday, today and tomorrow. In all cases, RT breached Ofcom’s impartiality rules.

The watchdog’s decision to remove RT from UK TV screens on March 18 was largely symbolic given that the European Union had already sanctioned RT, leading to its removal from Freeview, Britain’s biggest free-to-air broadcaster, and Sky.

Despite attracting an average audience of just 2,000 viewers on Freeview and Sky, opinions were divided on how far UK authorities should go to tackle misinformation on the channel.

Some activists feared that an outright ban before investigations were complete would undermine free speech, but there were also concerns that Putin could use the network to continue spreading disinformation if it remained intact.

The Kremlin responded to the RT ban by expelling Western media. In June, Russia banned 29 British journalists from media organizations including The Telegraph, BBC, Guardian, Times and Independent.

Most Western broadcasters and social media companies are either restricted or pulling out of Russia. The BBC World Service uses shortwave radio to broadcast programs such as Newshour, World Business Report and Sports World to parts of Russia and Ukraine.

The outcome of Ofcom’s investigations comes after the regulator discovered earlier this year that while RT’s licensee ANO TV-Novosti had no shareholders, it received payments from the budget of the State of the Russian Federation which partially covered the operating costs of the broadcaster.

RT ended operations at Millbank Tower, Westminster, after Ofcom’s ban, but continues to broadcast from Russia to countries around the world.

A spokesman for RT said: “The logic behind these decisions reflects the logic that guided them several months after Ofcom revoked RT’s license: this is a trial after conviction and RT is guilty of to be Russian and to have dared to express a point of view and show facts that are unacceptable to British political and media establishments.

On the prospect of a further sanction from Ofcom, RT added: “We are very curious to know how creatively Ofcom will try to be creative with these potential sanctions: having their decision broadcast by RT on a channel that no longer broadcasts in the UK or Europe?

“A fine to a sanctioned company that they are prohibited from receiving money from under the UK law they operate under? Maybe even revoke our broadcast license? Let’s get the popcorn out.”