Russian authorities have banned the broadcasting of programs by the German media corporation Deutsche Welle in the country, they closed their offices while the journalists’ accreditations for working in Russia were canceled. The decision arrived only two days after Germany canceled the license for satellite broadcasting of the Russian state television channel “Russia Today” (RT) on the territory of Germany. Soon after, YouTube blocked the German RT channel on its platform only several hours after the broadcasting in December, informed “Truthmeter.”
Under the syndicating agreement between Truthmeter.mk and Meta.mk, we republish the text below:
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that is responding with measures against German media accredited in Russia, including Internet platforms that have arbitrarily and imprudently erased RT’s channels. The spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marija Zaharova, stated on Thursday that Russia will announce a series of measures against German media because of the broadcasting ban on RT DE.
The state news agency RIA News published the plan by the Russian authorities on banning the German media company Deutsche Welle. Apart from shutting down the correspondent office in Moscow and abolishing the accreditations of all employees at the Russian bureau of the TV and Radio Company, cancelation of the satellite or any other type of Deutsche Welle broadcasting was announced. Further, starting a procedure for marking the media as a foreign agent and issuing an entrance ban in Russia to representatives of the German state and public structures that took part in the cancelation of RT DE working permit. The list of names will not be publicly announced.
DW’s General Manager, Peter Limbourg, said the decision would only strengthen DW’s resolve to report on events in Russia.
This is another sign that the Russian government is not interested in press freedom and freedom of opinion. Even if we have to leave the country, we will intensify our reporting on the country. We will not just ignore what is happening in Russia, we will report. And we will do more and more, said DW’s General Manager Limbourg who said that Russia’s reaction was “a total overreaction.”
Deutsche Welle, which is broadcasting a program in 30 languages, including in Russian, announced it will take legal measures.
After the ban, the German Journalist Associating (DJV) has called upon the Russian President Vladimir Putin to lift the ban immediately and return the accreditations to the journalists.
There is no justification for this drastic measure of censorship, said the DJV’s president Frank Uberall , who described this step as ” cheap revenge” about the decision of the German media regulator.
On the other hand, Vladimir Solovyov , the President of the Union of Journalist Associations of Russia, in his statement for RIA news says Deutsche Welle sometimes has violated Russian laws, but it worked freely for years in Russia.
Firstly, the journalist associations are always against any types of limitations of the media, both against the limitations imposed on our media abroad and those imposed on the work of foreign media in our country. We are for the freedom of press Deutsche Welle sometimes violated the Russian laws, summoned the people to attend rallies, and was publishing indecent articles and caricatures directed toward the leaders of the Russian state. Obviously, the time has come to put an end to this , said Solovyov for RIA news.
On the 1st of February, the Commission or registration and monitoring of media regulators in Germany, officially banned the broadcasting of RT DE’s channel in Germany, stating it had no proper permit. RT, on the other hand, announced it will appeal the German regulator’s decision in court.
Since the 16th of December 2021, Russia Today has been broadcasting its program in Germany through a license it received in Serbia. The permit was issued by the Regulatory Authority for electronic media in Serbia that called upon European legislation, allowed the Russian television to broadcast its program in Germany.
The German regulatory body assessed that the Serbian permit is not enough since the company that is producing RT DE’s program has a seat in Berlin and its goal is the German audience.
