Sky TV 'more on alert' over Russia Today, amid Ukrainian disinformation worries

Thursday, 24 February 2022

Sky Television has defended broadcasting Russia Today as its only continental European news channel in the wake of rising fears over Ukraine and accusations in Britain that RT is a Kremlin propaganda channel.

But chief executive Sophie Moloney indicated controversy over the channel was on its radar, saying it was going to be mindful “and more on alert in terms of this channel and its delivery into New Zealand homes”.

Britain’s Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries wrote to British broadcasting and telecommunications watchdog Ofcom, encouraging it to review RT’s ability to broadcast in the UK.

Dorries described the Russian state-funded channel as “demonstrably part of Russia's global disinformation campaign”.

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That assessment was echoed by British Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer, who described RT as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “personal propaganda tool”.

Dorries expressed concern about “bias” in RT’s coverage of the Salisbury poisonings and the Syrian conflict and raised concerns RT “will also look to spread harmful disinformation about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine here in the UK”.

Ofcom responded by saying it had stepped up its oversight of coverage of events in Ukraine by broadcasters as a matter of urgency and would “not hesitate to take swift action where necessary”.

Germany banned broadcasts by RT earlier this month, saying it did not have a valid licence.

RT is the only continental European news channel carried by Sky TV in New Zealand, which includes it as standard in its Sky Starter package, which is dished up to 545,000 households.

Sky TV declined to say whether it paid for the channel.

Moloney said she had not watched RT, but the company was aware of the developments in Britain.

RT was broadcast in a number of countries and customers would ultimately determine which channels or content they wanted to watch, she said.

Sky TV had also not received any recent complaints about the channel from viewers, she said.

“If we have complaints, we will be looking into them and corresponding with the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

“If the Broadcasting Standards Authority wants to have a conversation with us, we will be following due process with them,” she said, adding that the company was “mindful of what is happening on the planet”.

BSA spokesman Pete Barnao said it was only able to make findings about broadcast material if it received a complaint.

“We have received no complaints about Russia Today,” he said.

“Each complaint is dealt with on its merits. It’s also worth noting that complaints, except for material about privacy and elections, must be directed to broadcasters first.”

The BSA’s rules means Sky TV itself would appear very unlikely to be held liable for the accuracy or balance of material on RT, given it is a foreign channel over which Sky TV could not be expected to exert control.

“It is possible for a New Zealand entity which makes ‘pass through’ content available to be held responsible for compliance with broadcasting standards,” Barnao said.

“However, the question of where responsibility sits is context specific and depends on the level of control that the New Zealand entity has,” he said.