RT France, the Kremlin-funded news channel, has been based in France since 2017 and broadcasts from its studios in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Thursday morning, we could see the speech of Emmanuel Macron, condemning the “act of war” triggered by Russia in Ukraine and special envoys announcing the advance of Russian troops towards Kiev.
An expert, Emmanuel Leroy, ex-member of the National Front, declared that “Westerners would do well to listen more attentively to what the Russians are saying”.
But we no longer see Frédéric Taddeï, who "out of loyalty" to France", no longer presents his daily talk show "Forbidden to forbid".
Since Vladimir Putin launched his troops in Ukraine, French politicians have multiplied criticism against RT France.
Laurent Lafon, the president of the Culture Committee of the Senate called for the “immediate” suspension of RT France.
The centrist senator accuses him, in a letter sent to Arcom (ex-CSA) and to the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, of relaying "daily" the "propaganda actions" of Moscow.
Even before it set up its subsidiary in France, Russia Today was called an “organ of false propaganda” by Emmanuel Macron.
RT and Sputnik have a budget of 430 million euros
This international news channel is broadcast in around a hundred countries in French, English and Spanish.
It benefits with its variation on the Sputnik site, from an annual budget of 430 million euros, entirely financed by the Russian State.
But prohibiting the broadcasting of RT France, bound by an agreement with Arcom (ex CSA), is not so simple.
To cut off the signal from this channel, you have to be able to investigate a file and therefore note serious shortcomings.
"If it deems it justified, the regulator will not hesitate to use, without delay, the legal tools at its disposal and which can go so far as to request the suspension of its broadcast", warned the regulator of the audio-visual.
RT France had already been given formal notice by the CSA in 2018 for failure to honesty, rigor of information and diversity of points of view “about a subject devoted to Syria.
And currently, an independent rapporteur is investigating a case on RT France which could lead to a new sanction procedure.
In the meantime, Arcom, which is being passed on the hot potato, ensures that it ensures “with particular vigilance” that RT France respects its “legal and conventional” obligations.
The chain replied by condemning the "political pressure" exerted on the regulator, which goes "against the legal basis aimed at protecting freedom of expression".
She considers covering the Ukrainian crisis "in a complete way, by exposing all the points of view of the stakeholders".
Even in the event of a conviction, RT France could still continue its activity from the Web.
The channel has largely woven its influence on the Internet and social networks, much less controlled than television channels.
In December, his site totaled 703,000 unique visitors.
And, according to Politico, which cites data from the think tank German Marshall Fund, RT France would rank 15th among the media with the highest engagement rate on Facebook France, taking into account the analysis of likes, comments and shares.
At the same level as CNews or France Inter.
France is not the only country where RT finds itself in the crosshairs.
On Wednesday, the British government asked the television regulator, Ofcom, for a review of the license granted to the Russian public broadcaster in English.
At the beginning of February, Germany banned Russia Today on its territory.
Moscow responded by closing the office of German radio and television Deutsche Welle in Moscow.
And hinted that the BBC could suffer the same fate.
Russian regulator threatens foreign media
French news channels broadcasting internationally fear they will be the next victims of Russian censorship.
Euronews, based in Lyon, is on the front line.
It is one of the few foreign media to broadcast in Russian language throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Its position is delicate because the Russian public television VGTRK is one of its shareholders as well as... the Ukrainian public television Pershyi!
"On the spot, we have a Ukrainian journalist, a Russian journalist and a Frenchman" explains Michael Peters, the president of Euronews.
This channel in Russian is closely monitored by the Kremlin and has already been the subject of two reprimands from Roskomnadzor, the Russian CSA.
A third reprimand would condemn her to the black screen.
Thusday,
this same Roskomnadzor warned the foreign media on its territory that any dissemination of information that did not include official Russian sources could be condemned.
For its part, France 24, the French international news channel, reaches 28.7 million Russian households in its French and English versions.
It is also broadcast in Ukraine to 4.1 million households.
“If France bans RT, France 24 would immediately be cut off and banned from staying in Russia, like Deutsche Welle” fears a spokesperson for the channel.
It is also broadcast in Ukraine to 4.1 million households.
“If France bans RT, France 24 would immediately be cut off and banned from staying in Russia, like Deutsche Welle” fears a spokesperson for the channel.
It is also broadcast in Ukraine to 4.1 million households.
“If France bans RT, France 24 would immediately be cut off and banned from staying in Russia, like Deutsche Welle” fears a spokesperson for the channel.