Media: German case against Russian state broadcaster RT

media
German case against Russian state broadcaster RT

German media regulators have initiated proceedings against the Russian state medium RT because, despite the lack of a German broadcasting license, it has started a German-language live program.

The new RT format, which can be accessed via several platforms, is “unquestionably” broadcast, said the director of the Berlin-Brandenburg media authority, Eva Flecken, on Friday to the German press agency.

For this purpose, no broadcasting license had been applied for from the media authority, nor was it granted. “We have therefore initiated formal proceedings today. The organizer has until the end of the year to comment on the matter. ” In such a procedure, according to the information, a decision can theoretically be issued at the end that prohibits the program. A fine of up to half a million euros is also possible. The broadcaster can sue against this.

The broadcaster RT, formerly Russia Today, which has repeatedly been criticized in the West as a propaganda instrument of the Kremlin, wants to expand its range in Germany and has been planning its German-language TV program for a long time. Since Thursday, the live stream can be seen on the website of RT DE, which has a location in Berlin, among other places. According to the media, it will also be broadcast by satellite to 33 European countries – thanks to a license in Serbia, which has pro-Russian political leadership.

TV providers require a German broadcasting license

But TV providers need a German broadcasting license for nationwide programs in Germany – regardless of the mode of broadcast. The admission requirement is, among other things, that the constitutional principle of broadcasting remote from the state may not be violated, i.e. a state or a party may not exert any influence on the program content.

A previous project by RT to obtain a license from the Luxembourg authorities had failed. Some commentators now rated the route via Serbia as an attempt to circumvent the situation in order to still reach television viewers in Germany. In a communication, RT DE rejected such allegations and invoked the so-called European Convention on Transfrontier Television, on the basis of which broadcasting to Germany is permitted under the Serbian license. In the opinion of the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg, the program is organized by RT DE Productions GmbH, based in Berlin, and thus falls under German jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, anger in Moscow was mainly caused by the fact that a YouTube channel, which was also part of the new RT program, was blocked again just a few hours after its start, with reference to the violation of terms of use. The Russian media supervisory authority Roskomnadzor threatened the Google group, to which YouTube belongs, with a blockade of the video platform in the largest country in the world in terms of area – should the channel not be reopened. The authority spoke of an «act of censorship» against RT DE.

Two German-language RT channels on YouTube have already been blocked

Youtube, on the other hand, justified the blocking of RT DE with the fact that the Russian medium had already been terminated in September and no other Youtube channel could be used afterwards. The termination was preceded by the blocking of two other German-language RT channels because a guideline on corona misinformation was said to have been violated there. At that time, even the Kremlin in Moscow stepped in and sharply criticized YouTube’s approach. RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonjan spoke of a “media war” that Germany had declared on Russia.

RT is always criticized. A central accusation is that the medium is spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation on behalf of the Russian state. RT rejects that. The broadcaster transmits several foreign language programs. The station has also been offering online reports in German for a long time. The news service broadcast live around the clock is new, however.

dpa