Ofcom has fined the Russian-backed news channel RT £200,000 in a breach of impartiality rules.
It will also be required to broadcast a summary of the regulator’s findings.
An investigation found RT failed to preserve due impartiality in seven news and current affairs programmes between 17 March and 26 April 2018. The programmes were mostly in relation to major matters of political controversy and current public policy – namely the UK Government’s response to the events in Salisbury, and the Syrian conflict.
“Taken together, these breaches represented serious and repeated failures of compliance with our rules. We were particularly concerned by the frequency of RT’s rule-breaking over a relatively short period of time,” Ofcom said in a statement.
No further breaches of impartiality have been recorded.
RT has applied for a judicial review, and Ofcom is awaiting its conclusion before imposing the sanctions.