Britain: Revokes RT channel license due to war coverage

The British media regulator announced that it had revoked the license it had given to the Russian-backed RT television station to broadcast live in the United Kingdom, following an investigation into the impartiality of its coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Regulator Ofcom said in a statement that it was not convinced that RT could be a responsible network.

"Freedom of expression is something we are vigorously defending in this country, and the bar for action against broadcasters has rightly been set very high. "After an independent regulatory process, we have concluded today that RT is not the right person to be licensed in the United Kingdom," said Melanie Doz, CEO of Ofcom.

RT is currently 'out of the air' in Britain due to sanctions imposed by the European Union after the Moscow invasion late last month. RT said the regulator had unjustly revoked its license due to the conflict in Ukraine and accused it of being nothing more than a tool of the British government.

"Ofcom has shown the British public, and the regulatory community internationally, that despite its well-structured external image of independence, it is nothing more than a tool of the government, which succumbs to its desire to suppress the media," Anna told Reuters. Belkina, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of RT.

"Ignoring the pure history of RT for four consecutive years and citing purely political reasons directly related to the situation in Ukraine and yet completely unrelated to RT's activities, structure, administration or journalistic production, Ofcom was wrong "RT is not 'competent and appropriate' and thus deprived the British public of access to information."

Source: RES-EAP