How does the Russian channel RT deal with the conflict in Ukraine?

The war is also fought in the field of information.

While Vladimir Putin announced this Thursday a military operation in Ukraine, the Russian channel RT, ex-Russia Today, is in the sights of several European countries.

Arcom (formerly known as CSA) announced this Thursday "watch with particular vigilance" the information broadcast on the French version of the channel and does not exclude the use of tools that could lead to the suspension of its dissemination.

The day before, the British government asked for a review of the license granted to the Russian public channel in English, the Minister of Defense judging that Vladimir Putin had “lost the ball”.

At the beginning of February, Germany banned RT from its territory because RT had not obtained, or even applied for, the necessary authorization to broadcast in Germany.

In retaliation, Russia closed the office of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in Moscow.

How does RT, often described as a Kremlin propaganda tool, deal with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine?

Adherence to the official Russian discourse

From its launch in France in 2017, the channel, funded by the Russian government to respond to a

strategy , aroused suspicion.

RT and Sputnik, another Russian media considered close to the Kremlin, had been accused by Emmanuel Macron of having behaved during the French presidential campaign “like organs of influence (…) and false propaganda”.

At first sight, however, RT has everything of a "normal" continuous news channel: a look similar to that of BFMTV or CNews, a continuous flow of French and international news, the intervention of experts on various topics, red warning banners... It is "a channel that presents itself first and foremost as an alternative medium in the international media space, described Maxime Audinet, author of

, on France Inter in early February.

What we observe is that in the context of events that concern Russia internally, the coverage is extremely biased, even manipulative”.

And a few hours after the announcement of a military operation against Ukraine, it does not miss.

When browsing the website, the choice of angles very clearly takes up the version of the Kremlin.

“We find the same motives, the same explanations and often the same titles as on other official Russian media.

This leaves doubts about the editorial independence of this channel, ”underlines Valentyna Dymytrova, lecturer in Information and Communication Sciences at Lyon-3 University.

If Emmanuel Macron's speech recorded at the Elysee Palace is relayed on the RT site, articles claim that the military operation does not threaten the civilian population, that the bombardments are directed in the Donbass.

However, according to a statement from the Ukrainian border guards, Russian military units entered the Kiev region from Belarus to carry out an attack with Grad missiles on military targets.

“We are not talking about the real perimeter of the military action, continues the specialist in Ukraine.

They take up the speech made by Vladimir Putin according to which it is necessary to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine”, continues the specialist.

Taddei, the impartiality guarantee

However, RT boasted of counting journalist Frédéric Taddeï among its troops, at the presentation of the debate

.

Experienced in the exercise of the contradictory debate with

on France Télévisions, it was used as an argument in favor of the diversity of opinions.

But faced with the acceleration of the conflict in recent days, Frédéric Taddeï has decided to leave the show out of loyalty to France.

"If you want to stay on the airwaves of a country, you have to respect a certain number of principles specific to this country", notes Valentyna Dymytrova.

It is necessary to look at the whole of the offer of information and not only a emission which can stand out from the batch.

Moreover, RT French version, German version or Spanish version do not have quite the same editorial lines.

They adapt to their host land and to the expectations of different populations.

RT also suffers from a very high refusal rate from guests, as the channel explained to France Inter, which explains a certain unanimity of the opinions expressed.

In the context of current tensions, RT's information processing will come under scrutiny.

If France or the United Kingdom were to ban the channel, Russia would not be slow to respond, as it did by closing the office of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in Moscow after Germany's decision.

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