Ofcom has found that RT’s news and current affairs coverage in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine breached due impartiality rules on 29 occasions in four days. Therefore, the Office of Communications revoked RT’s broadcast license and the channel is no longer broadcasting in the UK.
The organization launched 29 investigations into RT following complaints from viewers and Ofcom’s own monitoring of the channel. The investigations looked at the due impartiality of 15 RT News bulletins on February 27, 2022, 12 on March 1, 2022, and one on March 2, 2022, as well as the documentary “Donbass: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” which was repeated across March 1 and 2, 2022. In each case, Ofcom found that RT’s coverage failed to preserve due impartiality in relation to the conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Ofcom considers that these breaches were serious and repeated, and it is minded to consider them for the imposition of a statutory sanction.
When dealing with major matters such as wars or areas of conflict (in these cases, specifically the ongoing conflict in the Donbas region), all Ofcom licensees must comply with the special impartiality requirements in its Broadcasting Code. These rules require broadcasters to take additional steps to preserve due impartiality – namely by including and giving due weight to a wide range of significant views.
"News programmes must be able to report on controversial issues and take a position on those issues, even if that position is highly critical. But due impartiality requirements in broadcasting are particularly important in situations where events are changing quickly and potentially harmful disinformation is available online," Ofcom said.