Ofcom has today revoked RT's license to broadcast in the UK, with immediate effect. The authority has done so because it doesn't consider RT’s licensee, ANO TV Novosti, fit and proper to hold a UK broadcast license. The decision comes amid 29 ongoing investigations by Ofcom into the due impartiality of RT’s news and current affairs coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ofcom considers the volume and potentially serious nature of issues raised within such a short period to be deeply concerning, especially given RT’s compliance history, which has seen the channel fined £200,000 for previous due-impartiality breaches.
In this context, Ofcom launched a separate investigation to determine whether ANO TV Novosti is fit and proper to retain its license to broadcast. This investigation has taken account of several factors, including RT’s relationship with the Russian Federation. It has been recognized that RT is funded by the Russian state, which has recently invaded a neighboring sovereign country. Ofcom also noted new laws in Russia that effectively criminalize any independent journalism that departs from the Russian state’s own news narrative, in particular in relation to the invasion of Ukraine. Given these constraints, it appears impossible for RT to comply with the due impartiality rules of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code in the circumstances.
Ofcom recognizes that RT is currently off the air in the UK as a result of sanctions imposed by the EU since the invasion of Ukraine commenced. "We take the importance seriously, in our democratic society, of a broadcaster’s right to freedom of expression and the audience’s right to receive information and ideas without undue interference. We also take the importance of seriously maintaining audiences’ trust and public confidence in the UK’s broadcasting regulatory regime. Taking all of this into account and our immediate and repeated compliance concerns, we have concluded that we cannot be satisfied that RT can be a responsible broadcaster in the current circumstances. Ofcom is therefore revoking RT’s license to broadcast with immediate effect," the entity stated.
"Freedom of expression is something we guard fiercely in this country, and the bar for action on broadcasters is rightly set very high. Following an independent regulatory process, today, we found that RT is not fit and proper to hold a license in the UK. As a result, we have revoked RT’s UK broadcasting license," Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom Chief Executive, added.
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