Iran’s state-backed television station is circumventing a broadcasting ban by producing online political programmes aimed at British viewers from studios in west London.
Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, Jackie Walker, a past vice-chairwoman of Momentum, and the former Liberal Democrat MPs Lembit Öpik and Baroness Tonge are among those who have appeared on Press TV’s UK shows in recent months.
The channel was stripped of its licence to broadcast in 2012 after a series of breaches, including airing an interview with an imprisoned journalist that had been conducted under duress.
Ofcom’s ban applies only to conventional television broadcasting, leaving Press TV free to push its pro-Iran, anti-Israeli talking points to British viewers on Facebook and YouTube.
The original Press TV company was dissolved