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With drastic changes in the Ukraine crisis, Russia Today (RT), Russia's media outlet, encounters increasing pressures from the West. Britain's culture secretary Nadine Dorries said she has concerns that RT will "look to spread harmful disinformation," according to a recent Reuters report.

RT, an autonomous, non-profit organization that is publicly financed from the budget of the Russian Federation, has had broadcast in the UK for eight years. It is a public television network free of charge. Anyone in the UK who pays the TV license fee can have access to the RT. In regards to news reports concerning countries like Ukraine and Syria, if the audiences want to get information the BBC doesn't offer them and if they follow the news with a logic that British mainstream media doesn't recognize and cannot understand, they can just turn to the RT. For example, a viewer could learn how NATO's eastward enlargement works and how the UK got deeply involved in Hong Kong's riots in 2019. 

A group of British left-wing journalists also regard RT as the only media platform where they can share their voices. Some political figures who have been forced to retire or who have been cracked down on by the right-wing forces, such as Alex Salmond, first minister of Scotland, and George Galloway, former member of the Labour Party and leader of the Workers' Party of Britain, are not afraid of the threat from their political opponents and public opinion. They continue to run columns on RT to comment on the current affairs.

Since RT got license in 2014, it has had a brief moment of glory, with some prominent left-wing Labour MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, as well as other well-known figures in society, regularly appearing as guests. This Russian channel invited guests who were not invited by the BBC and discussed topics that the Times did not talk about. For the British press, which advocates "free speech," many anti-Russians witnessed RT grow during that brief period.

Since the Ukraine issue emerged and the Syrian civil war broke out, and especially after the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, Russia-UK relations have taken a sharp turn for the worse, and anti-Russian politicians have publicly launched a siege against RT on mainstream media platforms like the BBC. They have blacklisted political and academic figures who regularly grant interviews to the RT, preventing opposition figures from using it as a propaganda platform.

The Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is a government-approved regulatory and competition authority for UK's media industry, is RT's main obstacle and silencer in the UK. RT's reporting on Ukraine and Syria was investigated time and time again by Ofcom, which issued RT with a hefty fine for allegedly biased and false reporting. RT appealed the verdict, and the case in question went to the UK High Court, where it still lost. The Russian government responded that if the UK expels the RT, the Russian side would immediately take the same action against British media operating in Russia. 

RT's bank accounts are frozen, bringing huge obstacles to the company's normal operations. Leaders of UK's Labour Party and the Scottish National Party have taken the lead to urge the British government to revoke RT news channel's license. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered investigation into the company. Anna Belkina, RT's deputy editor in chief, said that British politicians are "directly interfering in institutions touted as supposedly wholly free from political pressure and influence."

Like RT, some Chinese media outlets face almost the same fate in the UK. How long can RT survive in the UK, which claims to support free of speech? Let's wait and see. 

The author is a media professional. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn