RT fined £200,000 for impartiality breach over Salisbury poisoning coverage
Russian broadcaster RT has been fined £200,000 by Ofcom over “serious failures” to comply with impartiality rules.
Read more: RT broke broadcasting rules on impartiality, says Ofcom
The regulator said RT – formerly known as Russia Today – had breached requirements for broadcast news to be presented with due impartiality in seven programmes that covered topics including the novichok poisoning in Salisbury last year.
It followed an investigation into news and current affairs shows broadcast between 17 March and 26 April 2018. The probe also related to RT’s coverage of the conflict in Syria.
“Taken together, these breaches represented serious and repeated failures of compliance with our rules,” Ofcom said in a statement.
The regulator added it was “particularly concerned” by the frequency with which RT broke its rules over a short period of time.
RT, which has challenged Ofcom’s case in court, described the fine as “particularly inappropriate and disproportionate”.
“It is astonishing that Ofcom sees RT’s programmes – which Ofcom thought should have presented more alternative points of view – as worthy of greater sanction than programmes containing hate speech and incitement to violence,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
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Ofcom said it considered the sanction to be appropriate and proportionate, but added it will wait until the conclusion of RT’s application for judicial review before enforcing the fine.
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