The United Kingdom’s broadcasting regulator Ofcom has announced that “with immediate effect” Russia’s state-funded news channel RT will have its licence to broadcast in Britain …
The United Kingdom’s broadcasting regulator Ofcom has announced that “with immediate effect” Russia’s state-funded news channel RT will have its licence to broadcast in Britain revoked over its coverage of the war in Ukraine. Russia’s RT, formerly Russia Today, was taken off British airwaves earlier this month following sanctions from the European Union which prohibited satellite providers in France and Luxembourg from broadcasting the station. Though the UK has left the EU, the feed for the state-controlled network was still transmitted to Sky, Freesat, and Freeview in Britain via the European providers. Before RT could find another route of broadcasting in Britain, Ofcom announced on Friday that its licence has been revoked, stating that ANO TV Novosti — which held the licence as the owner of RT — is not “fit and proper to hold a UK broadcast licence.” Ofcom claimed that because of recently imposed media laws in Russia — which it said will effectively “criminalise any independent journalism that departs from the Russian state’s own news narrative, in particular in relation to the invasion of Ukraine” — it will be “impossible” for RT to comply with British impartiality rules.
