Russia threatens to close France 24 TV channel
Russia's state media regulator Roskomnadzor threatened to stop broadcasting France 24 TV chanel the day after the French Superior Council of Audiovisual (CSA) issued a warning to the Russian channel RT France for inaccurate reporting on Syria.
Roskomnadzor stated that the French channel violated Russian legislation, Russian media reported.
Roskomnadzor employees allegedly found that the editorial activity of France 24 is directed by a foreign legal entity. This violates Russian law on the limitation of foreign participation in the media. The department noted that the work of the French TV channel in Russia could be suspended and its broadcasting license canceled.
The day before the Superior Council of the Audiovisual of France (CSA) issued a warning to the Russian TV channel RT France for its reporting on Syria.
The RT France report on Syria named “Imitation of Attacks” was broadcast on April 13. The authors disputed the use of chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta and alleged that the footage of the victims of the chemical attacks was staged.
The French regulator determined that the translation of the eyewitnesses' stories did not correspond to what they actually said. The statement of the CSA clarifies that the warning to RT France was made due to dishonesty, inaccurate presentation of information and lack of different points of view.
The RT TV channel stated that the plot came out with a "technical error" because of which the translation of the witnesses’ account of the events Eastern Ghouta did not correspond to the original audio track. RT France said that the error was corrected.