Russia Today has had it's UK bank accounts frozen.

sityeuropa · 17 Oct 2016 at 12:40

Will this affect the broadcasting of the channel in the UK?

Obvious that the general public are not against Russia and Putin as much as we should be.

Boris Johnson questioned why Stop The War were not protesting against Russia. Maybe because the situation is more complex than what the BBC and Sky portray. People also question hidden motives of the proxy war. Planned gas pipes etc excuse for the overthrow of the Assad regime.

Are they trying to put a stop to the UK public actually questioning the governments motives in Syria?

Freakbro · 17 Oct 2016 at 12:45

UK freezes all of RT's bank accounts

It's breaking news, so not a lot of detail at the moment, but RT (Russia Today) - Russia's state run news broadcaster has had all of its UK bank accounts frozen

The UK has frozen all bank accounts owned by Russia's state-run broadcaster, Russia Today (RT), its editor-in-chief has claimed.

Margarita Simonyan tweeted: "They've closed our accounts in Britain. All our accounts. 'The decision is not subject to review.' Praise be to freedom of speech!"

RT has previously been sanctioned by Ofcom for biased reporting on the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37677020

Now, I assume this is a political move over the conflict in Syria? Seems a slightly odd thing to do..

I know we have some fans of RT on here, I even watch it for a laugh sometimes, but to me it just seems as biased as Fox news but at the other end of the political spectrum.

I just wonder what the purpose of this is though, it's hardly going to knock them off the air as I'm sure they have plenty of non-UK accounts, it just seems to be an inconvenience.

Edit : Mods do you want to merge this with the other thread that's been started as well

Sliver · 17 Oct 2016 at 12:47

The Kremlin-run news channel has previously been sanctioned by Ofcom for biased reporting. This included claims that the BBC "staged" a chemical weapons attack for a news report on Syria.

Good riddance to bad news. :cool:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37677020

Sliver · 17 Oct 2016 at 12:48

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18753599

sityeuropa · 17 Oct 2016 at 12:49

Have you seen Assad's interviews? He is very intelligent. I don't believe he would use chemical weapons against his own people. In what way would it benefit him.

And I do think there were some false reports of chemical attacks during the beating drum of military action at the time. I remember it was really close to our vote of action.

Immediately thought oh how convenient.

sityeuropa · 17 Oct 2016 at 12:50

We should freeze CNN's accounts also.

RaohNS · 17 Oct 2016 at 12:51

Sliver said:
Good riddance to bad news.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37677020

Like the BBC hasn't repeatedly been shown to be biased. I trust Rat more than the UK branch of the KCNA

mmj_uk · 17 Oct 2016 at 12:53

Julian Assange had his internet cut off as well, we are becoming worse than China for censorship. I suppose it's a lot easier to allow free speech when you control all of the media but not so when you don't.

Sliver · 17 Oct 2016 at 12:57

RaohNS said:
Like the BBC hasn't repeatedly been shown to be biased. I trust Rat more than the UK branch of the KCNA

I think the BBC is more credible than most. I think you'll always get some bias in opinion journalism. After all, two people covering the same event can sometimes have slightly different accounts. That's why I like to fact some things on the internet.

What is the KCNA Raohns?

Freakbro · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:01

Sliver said:
What is the KCNA Raohns?

Let's guess..

the Killer Clinton News Association?

p4radox · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:01

Not sure it's the correct approach, but I can't say they'll be missed.

For those claiming that the RT is a more trustworthy source than the BBC: I challenge you to find a single RT article or report which is critical of the Russian government. RT is pure propaganda and cannot be trusted.

RaohNS · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:02

Sliver said:
I think the BBC is more credible than most. I think you'll always get some bias in opinion journalism. After all, two people covering the same event can sometimes have slightly different accounts. That's why I like to fact some things on the internet.

What is the KCNA Raohns?

Well our opinions differ there. RT has broke more stories of reference or interest to me this year Eg rampaging migrants, sexual assaults etc. Last year it reported the HSBC scandal earlier (because the Chairwoman of the BBC trust also sits on HSBC's board and the same with iirc Pfizers scandals where she also sat).

KCNA I the North Koreans state broadcaster. I just don't trust the Beeb anymore. Looking back I should have learned a lot sooner (especially given their involvement with the Iraq War)

Hades · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:02

Yes that will go down well with Putin.

RaohNS · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:03

Freakbro said:
Let's guess..

the Killer Clinton News Association?

It does have a nice ring to it

Sliver · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:03

Freakbro said:
Let's guess..

the Killer Clinton News Association?

Killer Clowns National Agenda?

Oh Ed not again. · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:04

Another day of coincidence.

Next up, subsea cable accidentally severed...

Werewolf · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:06

RaohNS said:
Well our opinions differ there. RT has broke more stories of reference or interest to me this year Eg rampaging migrants, sexual assaults etc. Last year it reported the HSBC scandal earlier (because the Chairwoman of the BBC trust also sits on HSBC's board and the same with iirc Pfizers scandals where she also sat).

KCNA I the North Koreans state broadcaster. I just don't trust the Beeb anymore. Looking back I should have learned a lot sooner (especially given their involvement with the Iraq War)

The BBC Trust has zero ability oi influence day to day news.

It's very very carefully set up so that the news operation is as free from interference as possible (and anyone from the BBC trust trying to get the news to drop something would be news itself).
IirC even the DG of the BBC can't order a story dropped without an extremely good reason (if at all).
It's one of the reasons you get things like one part of the BBC doing an expose on a celeb whilst another is doing a commemoration.

You just have to look at how often the BBC has upset the government of the day (regardless of which party is in power) to get an idea of how little control the government has over it's day to day running.

Unlike RT where it's pretty much the Kremlin directly calling the shots with every story, with no independent fact checking or anyone going against the party line.

yonderblue · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:08

Sliver said:
I think the BBC is more credible than most. I think you'll always get some bias in opinion journalism. ).

Except for viewers in Scotland.

Sankari · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:22

sityeuropa said:
Russia Today has had it's UK bank accounts frozen.

Excellent. This was long overdue.

Will this affect the broadcasting of the channel in the UK?

Hopefully. The UK already has plenty of domestic tabloids, it doesn't need a Russian tabloid spruiking Cold War anti-Western propaganda straight from the Kremlin.

Are they trying to put a stop to the UK public actually questioning the governments motives in Syria?

Nope. Freezing RT's bank accounts wouldn't make any difference.

RaohNS · 17 Oct 2016 at 13:28

Werewolf said:
The BBC Trust has zero ability oi influence day to day news.

It's very very carefully set up so that the news operation is as free from interference as possible (and anyone from the BBC trust trying to get the news to drop something would be news itself).
IirC even the DG of the BBC can't order a story dropped without an extremely good reason (if at all).
It's one of the reasons you get things like one part of the BBC doing an expose on a celeb whilst another is doing a commemoration

So it was just pure coincidence that whackjob websites were reporting the HSBC scandal 3 days before it became "a scandal" (before that it was just "a conspiracy"). The same is also true of rampaging migrants who I was reading about weeks before it filtered into the news. Hell one only had to look at ******** and be like wth is going on? Why isn't this being reported?

You just have to look at how often the BBC has upset the government of the day (regardless of which party is in power) to get an idea of how little control the government has over it's day to day running.

That's hardly evidence of impartial in the grander scheme of things.

Unlike RT where it's pretty much the Kremlin directly calling the shots with every story, with no independent fact checking or anyone going against the party line.

The BBC as has been repeatedly shown is owned by the government. It is a state broadcaster. Its opinions on foreign powers (especially Putin and Russia) leave a lot to be desired. Receiving £200m+ in funding help too