Media Chronicle

RT France in the info war

Audio 02:36

A view inside the studios of the RT France channel, in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, December 18, 2017. (Photo illustration) REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

By: Amaury de Rochegonde Follow

2 mins

RT France, the Russian state news channel, has found itself under the surveillance of the French regulatory authority since the start of the offensive in Ukraine.

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The question was raised by centrist senator Laurent Lafon a few hours after the start of the Russian invasion.

In a letter, he asks Arcom, the regulator which replaced the CSA, to suspend the channel and the site of RT France which, according to him, " 

".

According to

" 

 " are being considered by the French executive.

In any event, it is up to Arcom to observe any breaches of the honesty of information on RT France and to turn, if necessary, to the Council of State to request the suspension. chain.

The UK regulator has itself announced that it will review RT's license in the UK.

At the end of January, Germany chose to ban RT in German after finding that the internet channel did not have the necessary permits, which led Moscow to close Deutsche Welle in retaliation.

In France, it is very different since RT has received authorization and has also been put on notice by the CSA in 2018 after an erroneous translation on the war in Syria.

In the event of a repeat offence, it therefore risks penalties which may go as far as the suspension of its authorisation.

So have we already observed shortcomings?

It is probably a bit early to tell.

Arcom said it is watching this with great vigilance.

For the moment, we can reproach the chain for speaking of

 ” and never of “ 

” or “ 

”.

It delivers the views of Russia and the West and does not place Moscow in the dock, despite its violations of international law.

But it also shows images of civilians fleeing Ukraine for fear of bombing and relates the positions taken hostile to Russia by NATO or the West.

So there is something to watch out for.

RT's editorial boss Margarita Simonyan herself said last year that she works for the state and the defense of the Russian fatherland.

Host Frédéric Taddeï knows this.

At the start of the week, he judged that he could not continue his broadcasts on RT France out of "

 " to his country.

So should RT be banned in France?

Researcher Maxime Audinet, from Irsem, believes that the cost would be too high compared to the real influence of RT in France.

Because we can be sure that, by reciprocity, Russia would ban France 24, which is accessible to 29 million Russian households.

It was enough that Facebook was accused of censoring Russian media for Moscow to limit access to the American platform.

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