UK Edition
Media watchdog calls in Kremlin-backed news channel RT over impartiality breach on Nato
Media watchdogs have called in executives from RT, the Kremlin-backed news channel, to discuss its repeated failure to meet the impartiality standards required to hold a broadcasting licence.
It is understood that senior RT staff are due to travel from Moscow to meet regulators at Ofcom next month.
The meeting has been called in the wake of RT’s latest breach of impartiality rules, identified by Ofcom in December.
In a programme called CrossTalk last July, RT broadcast a debate about a Nato summit in which all members of the panel were critical of the military alliance.
The summit was described as “badly staged, badly signalled, political theatre” and Nato as “a minute group of megalomaniac powerbrokers hell bent on sending us into a third world war”.
The programme included a series of captions that highlighted Kemlin viewpoints such as “ “military buildup is part of Nato’s 'anti-Russia hysteria’” and “calling Russia aggressive is tactic to get Nato to spend more”.
Ofcom’s investigation, launched in response to a viewer complaint of “bias against America and the West”, found that RT had failed to present alternative viewpoints on Nato as is required by impartiality rules.
The state broadcaster behind the channel, TV Novosti, said it had tried to book guests with different views but they had all refused to appear.
It told Ofcom that CrossTalk’s host, the Moscow-based American journalist Peter Lavelle, had intended to present pro-Nato views in captions but was prevented by “technical problems”. TV Novosti admitted it had not maintained impartiality, however.
Executives are now due to be reminded of their licence obligations in a face-to-face meeting next month. The latest breach by RT is believed to be the 10th impartiality failure by the channel since its launch in 2005.
The compliance meeting comes at a time of heightened concern in Whitehall over Russian propaganda and over the Donald Trump’s potential policy on Nato.
Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, last month accused Vladimir Putin’s administration of “weaponising misinformation” as he called for Nato to stay “strong and to deter and dissuade Russia from this course”.
Ofcom declined to comment on its plans for the meeting. RT is not currently believed to be in danger of losing its broadcast licence. Iran’s Press TV was taken off air in 2012 following a string of regulatory breaches.
An RT spokesman said: "RT will meet with Ofcom in the near future as a part of on-going dialogue between broadcaster and regulator.
"This follows previous meetings initiated by both RT and Ofcom to maintain a close working relationship."