With the rallying cry that a “strong media means a strong democracy and a strong nation,” Britain’s Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright will urge the BBC and other national broadcasters to challenge “Russian propaganda” and prevent the spread of misinformation, promising in return to protect their prominence amid the growing role played by online content providers, The Telegraph wrote.
He is also expected to accuse Russia of trying to cast doubt on its alleged involvement in the March 4 poisoning of its former intelligence officer
Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury with “a blatant disinformation campaign with misleading procedural questions and over 40 different official narratives — all false.”
The Culture Secretary will cite Russia’s news channel RT, which is facing ten probes by Britain’s media regulator Ofcom into its alleged breaches of the broadcasting code on impartiality and accuracy.
Ofcom has said that depending on the outcome of these investigations, it will decide whether RT should be allowed to broadcast in Britain.
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Mr. Wright’s speech will come at a time when the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 feel their role is threatened by the rising power of Netflix, Amazon and YouTube and are campaigning for new laws that would protect their prominence on smart TVs as viewers turn to app menus rather than traditional channel guides to choose programming.
Traditional broadcasters also fear a loss of audience share and advertising funding as well as a smaller role in public life.