RT, formerly known as Russia Today, will have to pay the £200,000 fine issued by UK broadcast regulator OfCom.
RT appealed the ruing to the UK high court, but the court rejected that argument. RT was fined £200,000 last summer for breaking broadcast guidelines, with OfCom calling seven of RT’s programs a “serious failure of compliance of our broadcasting rules.” The seven 2018 programs discussed the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, the Syrian war, and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
An RT spokesperson told iMediaEthics by e-mail, “We are aware of the court’s decision, and we intend to appeal.”
Lord Justice Dingemans ruled, according to the Guardian, that because broadcast media has a large “reach and immediacy,” it comes with a greater requirement for due impartiality.
“The only requirement was that, in the programme as broadcast, RT provided balance to ensure that there was ‘due impartiality,'” he is quoted as saying.