Canadian regulator, the CRTC, has banned Russian state controlled media, RT and RT France from the airwaves.
The CRTC (Can’t Recognize True Canadian, I mean, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) has been one regulator that has been reviled by Canadians for some time. Whether it is causing Canadian Internet and cell phone rates to skyrocket or demanding more power to censor the Internet, the regulator has done little to actually garner praise from the Canadian public.
Now, we are learning that the CRTC has done something even more shocking: it might have done something that Canadian’s might be OK with. Certainly, the circumstances needed to do something that might actually be in the Canadian interest is quite unique and extraordinary, but it is quite surprising that the regulator did something that is actually good for a change. They have banned Russian state propaganda network, RT and RT France from the airwaves.
As we report this, the thing is, Russia has been bombing civilians in Ukraine for almost a whole month now. Recently, a theatre in Ukraine with the word “children” in Russian written so their air force could plainly see it was bombed by Russia. It seemed anything with any semblance of humanity is off the table and no target is off limits for Russian military aggression. What’s more is that Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has stepped up his efforts to be evil by calling for the “cleansing” of those opposed to his war on Ukraine, calling them “traitors” and “scum”.
It is with that that the US has grown increasingly worried that Russia might use chemical weapons on the citizens of Ukraine. The fear is that Russia is trying to set the stage for a manufactured reason to go full genocide on Ukraine. That does make Putin’s propaganda all the more worrying.
So, the news of the CRTC banning RT and RT France does seem like a logical move. From the CBC:
Canada’s telecommunications regulator has removed the state-controlled Russian television network RT from Canadian airwaves.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced Wednesday afternoon that it was removing RT and RT France from the list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution in Canada.
The decision means broadcasters in Canada are no longer legally permitted to carry the channel.
The multilingual 24-hour news channel launched in 2005, when it was known as Russia Today, and now appears in more than 100 countries, according to its website.
Funded by the Russian government, the channel has long been described by critics as a propaganda outlet for the Kremlin.
“RT’s programming is not consistent with the standards against which Canadian services are measured nor the policy objectives set out in the Broadcasting Act,” the CRTC said in its decision.
“The CRTC is also concerned with programming from a foreign country that seeks to undermine the sovereignty of another country, demean Canadians of a particular ethnic background and undermine democratic institutions within Canada.”
Some might consider the move a bit late to the game. After all, most, if not, all the Canadian big telecom companies already said that they wouldn’t carry RT. So, the difference between that and now might be rather minimal. Still, the key difference now is that it is now illegal to broadcast the two stations. So, if there was some smaller telecom player still broadcasting the station, chances are, either that station is now no longer carried or there would be regulatory backlash to continue to do so.
Obviously, this is all part of a larger operation from multiple countries to completely disconnect Russia from the world stage. Corporations, including tech companies, have all continued to sever ties with Russia. Windows to try and get money out of Russia by Putin’s elite inner circle are closing with efforts to fight sanction evasion efforts ramping up in the crypto currency world. It’s all with the goal of punishing Russia for invading another country without provocation.
This latest story is part of the latest developments of countries all over the world trying to find ways of supporting Ukraine. As Putin pushes harder, the backlash grows with increasing number of sanctions. It has led some to wonder how Russia could possibly hope to recover from this. Some are going so far as to ask how US relations could possibly normalize so long as Putin is still in charge of Russia. Given all that has happened, it’s hard to really see it happening at this point in time. As things continue to escalate, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see even more action at a later time as well.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
