RTFri, 26 Jul 2019 09:46 UTC
Ofcom, aka the British Ministry of Objectionable Materials
British broadcast regulator Ofcom slapped RT with a six-figure fine for allegedly breaching impartiality rules. It comes before a pending Judicial Review and dwarfs fines imposed on media outlets that gave air to hate speech.
Last December, Ofcom said that in seven instances over the year RT failed to adhere to the British impartiality rules when covering controversial issues like the Skripal poisoning case in the UK or the role played by the US in the war in Syria. RT believes the decision to be wrong and has challenged it in court. Last month, London High Court allowed the case to proceed despite
Ofcom claiming that RT's case had no merit.
On Friday, the regulator announced its decision to
slap a £200,000 ($250,000) fine on RT as sanction for the alleged 2018 violations. The penalty seems "particularly inappropriate and disproportionate per Ofcom's own track record," RT's press service said in response.
"It is very wrong for Ofcom to have issued a sanction against RT on the basis of its breach findings that are currently under Judicial Review by the High Court in London. RT went to court over Ofcom's December findings against our network because we believe that they were reached in a manner contrary to the law and were wrong. Last month we received confirmation from a judge at a hearing in the High Court that, despite Ofcom's opposition, our case against Ofcom should proceed. And while we continue to contest the very legitimacy of the breach decisions themselves, we find the scale of proposed penalty to be particularly inappropriate and disproportionate per Ofcom's own track record. It is notable that cases that involved hate speech and incitement to violence have been subject to substantially lower fines."
In 2016, Ofcom
fined Peace TV Urdu £65,000 for airing public lectures, in which the Jewish people were called a "cursed race" possessing "evil genius" that wants "to bring the world to heel through the global banking network."
The same year Noor TV was
fined £75,000 for airing a sermon, during which a speaker said that killing a Jew would be an act of devotion to the will of Prophet Muhammed.
"It is astonishing that, in contrast, 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."We are duly considering further legal options," RT press service said.
Comment: They can't make Russia "shut up and go away," so they sanction it every which way they can.
UPDATE: Sunday 28th 2019 @ 12:51RT
reports that the London High Court have permitted a legal challenge, and provides an overview of Twitter's response:
British broadcast regulator Ofcom imposed a large fine on RT over an alleged breach of impartiality rules. Reporting on this story by the UK's majors met a cold reaction online, with users accusing the British media of bias.
The move to impose the £200,000 fine on RT was announced by the British media watchdog on Friday, a decision based on an Ofcom report issued last December accusing RT of seven instances of breaching British impartiality rules while reporting on highly controversial stories in 2018, such as the Skripal poisoning affair.
RT has filed a legal challenge against the accusations and last month London's High Court allowed the case to proceed, despite Ofcom claiming that RT's case had no merit.
As the British media reported on the impressive fine, it was met by an angry online crowd, wondering when the watchdog would actually look into the country's own media - and bleed it dry financially over its alleged bias.
Others suggested Ofcom might have an unconventional understanding of what 'impartiality' actually means.
And some even pointed fingers at the not-very-subtle ties between the UK's media and the country's state authorities.
Still, a few users managed to dismiss the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the news about RT's fine, blaming it on the Twitter bogey of choice - the elusive Russian bots.
Meanwhile the Russian Foreign Ministry doesn't mince its words and rightfully
accuses Ofcom of 'outright censorship:'
The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned a heavy fine issued by the British media regulator Ofcom against RT. The move was part of "anti-Russian campaign" launched in the UK, the ministry said.
"We witness a situation, in which the British authorities seek to restrict the activities of the Russian media in the UK, this time suing financial leverage," the ministry said in a statement, after Ofcom announced that it issued a £200,000 ($ 247.750) penalty to RT over its alleged breach of impartiality rules.
The ministry questioned the large penalty imposed on RT, stating that it "by far exceeds" the fines other media outlets have received, even in cases involving hate speech and incitement to violence. It also noted that the fine was issued ahead of a court case that is set to rule on the very legitimacy of the media watchdog's conclusions.
"We regard Ofcom's decision as an act of outright censure."
The statement also said that the British press has repeatedly involved itself in controversies and misrepresented facts in its own reporting. Most recently, when Italian police busted a neo-Nazi gang they claimed took part in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the whole range of British media - including Reuters and the BBC - rushed to report on the gang's alleged links to "pro-Russian separatists," even though Italian authorities never actually mentioned one.
"We closely follow the developments," the ministry said, adding that the British media operating in Russia should be ready to "face consequences of London's actions."
See also:
Freedom of speech and the press is considered a fundamental characteristic of these nations, but if TPTB don't like what is said/presented, they will fine and/or jail the speaker. This is hardly different from what is/has been practiced by regimes that are considered to be repressive.
Freedom of speech & freedom of the press! Orwell would be so proud!