Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, tweeted that “it was right” for Ofcom to take action.
“The outlets’ lies and propaganda, where victims are cast as the aggressors and the brutality of Russia’s actions are concealed, have absolutely no place on our screens,” she added.
Ofcom’s move comes after RT’s coverage led to more than 100 complaints for the week to February 22. RT was previously fined £200,000 by Ofcom in 2019 for breaching impartiality rules over its reporting of the Salisbury poisonings and the war in Syria.
Kevin Bakhurst, Ofcom’s broadcasting chief, had argued that freedom of speech should not be sacrificed by swiftly banning RT without a proper investigation. That was in contrast to US tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Meta and Apple that quickly banned RT from their services.
Ofcom’s inquiries found that while RT’s licensee ANO TV-Novosti did not have any shareholders, it received payments from the Russian Federation’s state budget that partly cover the broadcaster’s operating costs.
Following a string of complaints over its coverage, Ofcom told RT on March 8 that its UK licence could be removed and had been given two days to respond to its impartiality concerns.
RT declined to appear at a hearing at Ofcom’s offices, claiming it had been given “insufficient time” to respond. It claimed any licence review should only be taken once it had access to legal representation in the UK.
Anna Belkina, RT’s deputy editor-in-chief, said the channel had come under “immense pressure as part of a concerted effort to stifle alternative voices in news”.
She added: “In the UK, this mounting politically-led pressure has reached the point at which it has become logistically impossible for RT’s UK production company to continue in its current form. Over the last year we have already moved much of our UK operations to our central hub in Moscow.
“The staff affected by the changes will be offered alternative roles within RT International where appropriate, and RT will continue to produce content for our audiences globally on every platform that is available to us, including UK-centric stories for our audience in the UK.”
