Calls to ban RT should act as a wake-up call for recognition of wider press bias.

As the world looks on in horror at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calls have been made for the Kremlin state-controlled TV network RT – formerly Russia Today – to be banned from being aired as an English-language news channel in the UK. 

Following Russian troops moving to the east of Ukraine, Keir Starmer told Parliament that action was needed to curb “Putin’s campaign of misinformation”

“Putin’s campaign of misinformation should be tackled, and Russia Today should be prevented from broadcasting its propaganda around the world,” said the Labour leader.

The demands were backed up by shadow Cabinet minister Lisa Nandy, who said: “When the Russia Report was published, we asked Ofcom to review Russia Today’s license. Given what is unfolding, why is it still freely broadcasting state propaganda in the UK?”

Critics of RT have long accused the broadcaster – which is funded and controlled by the Russian government – as being a mouthpiece for the Kremlin.

Earlier this month, a German media regulator banned an RT channel, accusing it of failing to adhere to media licensing laws. Russian authorities retaliated and closed the Moscow offices of the German public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW).

RT accused the German regulator of acting for “purely political reasons” and “invoking a false version of reality that it bends to suit its purposes.”

Talking to iNews, RT’s deputy editor-in-chief Anna Belkina said: “Always a joy to see Western and particularly British politicians finally drop their hypocritical disguise in favour of open interference in institutions they touted as supposedly totally independent and wholly free from political pressure and interference.”

This week saw former first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, suspend his talk show on RT after coming under increased pressure to stop appearing on the channel because of the crisis in Ukraine.  

In response to calls for the Russian broadcaster to be banned in the UK, culture secretary Nadine Dorries told Ofcom to review the operation of RT which she said was “demonstrably part of Russia’s global disinformation campaign.”

Not everyone, however, is pushing for a ban of the Russian media network in Britain.  

Robert Largan, Tory MP for the High Peak, said he would be “cautious” about banning the broadcaster due to repercussions it may have on the BBC.

“I’d be cautious about banning RT. Putin would respond by banning the BBC in Russia, which actually cuts through his propaganda. Meanwhile, RT in the UK is ignored by all but the likes of Richard Burgon…” Largan tweeted. 

The tweet sparked a mixed response. Matthew Gordon-Banks, a former MP, think tank director and senior research fellow, ministry of defence, responded:

“Totally agree, up to Richard Burgon… @RTUKNews is followed by a wide cross section of people in the UK who do not rely on but do use it to balance their news intake. I think Keir Starmer raised it to look tough knowing it probably won’t happen.”

Another wrote: “RT is good to present another point of view. You may disagree with it which is fair but there is a danger in only watching news channels who report on an angle you agree with. A bit of GB News, FOX News and RT that present an alternative view are good for any democracy.”

“But banning it would itself be totalitarian. Better would be to comment on it, lampoon it, and teach people how to understand its methods,” someone added.

Implications on free speech

The implications the banning of RT would have on free speech have been raised. In response to Starmer’s calls to ban the channel, RT presenter, Afshin Rattansi, said how the UK has a “long history of free speech” and suggest that anyone who believes it is propaganda could switch off.

“We are still broadcasting here at the moment in Britain … We should be hoping that NGOs for free speech – from [Reporters Without Borders] and Amnesty International – will be there to defend this channel against Sir Keir Starmer and the British Labour party who want to ban free speech.”

The presenter continued that RT’s mantra was to “question more” the mainstream narratives. He asked whether western viewers would be getting only a one-sided perspective if RT was not broadcasting in their countries.

Sentiment shared by The Scotsman, which described how the banning of RT could lead us down a dangerous road.

“Free speech is a fundamental democratic right and a free society needs to find a better antidote to Putin’s poison than state censorship,” writes The Scotsman.

Joanna and Peter Huyton, who watch the channel on occasion, told LFF why they think the UK would be wrong to ban RT.

“We find the actions of Putin in Ukraine sickening: the invasion is the result of someone with an increasing sense of paranoia, who stifles any opposition with ruthlessness and is supported by a spineless Federal Assembly.

“We also know that the RT station is backed by the Russian state and therefore beholden to it and selective in what it does and, more importantly, what it does not broadcast. Even so, we believe that prohibiting RT from broadcasting would not be in our interests as it provides an alternative, though skewed, perspective on important matters,” they said.

Media bias in the Western world

The row on RT’s propagandistic propensity and the future of the Russian state broadcaster in the UK should raise the issue of wider media bias, and none more so than in the UK.

Labour’s failure to win elections in recent years, has, for example, been implicated to media bias.

Research that shows 75% of press coverage that misrepresented Jeremy Corbyn in his role as leader of the opposition, with the majority of the press failing to act as a critical watchdog but rather an antagonistic attack dog, should not be ignored.

Following Boris Johnson becoming prime minister to the end of September 2020, three billionaire press owners – Rupert Murdoch and News Corp, Lord Rothermere and DMGT, and Fred Barclay, owner of the Spectator and the Telegraph – and their representatives, had more meetings with ministers than all the rest of the UK media combined.

As the New Statesman notes, these are the same media groups that put Johnson in power – via the Daily Mail, Telegraph and the Sun, by helping to persuade 52% of those who voted in the EU referendum to vote in favour of Leave.

YouGov data shows that the British media is perceived the most right-wing and biased in Europe.

The row over the controversial Kremlin-run RT’s influence in the Ukraine crisis and calls for a crackdown on the channel being broadcast in Britain, raises important questions about wider media bias in the Western world, who owns our media, and how the British press became so politically partisan.

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward

Comments are closed.