RT France has called the timing of the alleged inquiry suspicious since it comes just a day after a ban on RT DE broadcast in Germany
RT’s French-language channel has requested a clarification from the French media regulator Arcom over reports about the body allegedly launching an investigation into the broadcaster’s activities upon request of some “associations.”
Earlier, the French magazine Challenges reported that Arcom had launched a preliminary probe into how RT France communicates its content to its audience. Some unnamed “associations” alerted the media regulator about supposed “omissions” in the channel’s coverage of the ‘Yellow Vests’ protests as well as the situation in Syria and the Central African Republic – France’s former colonies.
RT France said that, if the reports are true, such a move on the part of the regulator would amount to an act of censorship.
“It is obvious that this is a planned action, since the information about the beginning of the inspection regarding our channel appeared the very next day after the ban on the broadcasting of colleagues from RT DE,” said Ksenia Fedorova, editor-in-chief of RT France.
The channel has requested clarification from Arcom but has not received any response so far. The news comes a day after the top German media regulator sided with a regional authority and banned RT’s German-language channel, RT DE, from broadcasting in Germany, citing the absence of a locally issued license.
The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the move as an “unfriendly act” and announced a set of retaliatory measures, including a broadcast ban on Germany’s state-owned DW news service.
