The Russian state media outlet RT DE has become involved in a Swiss debate around an initiative to halve the public media licence fee. RT (formerly Russia Today) has accused the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) of “targeted manipulation of the population” and of being “part of social conflicts”, according to a report in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. In an article published on its German-language platform, RT used a doctored screenshot taken from the website of the Swiss public broadcaster, SRF, to criticise coverage of the SBC media licence fee initiative, which will be put to voters on March 8. RT, which is financed by the Russian state, has long been accused of spreading disinformation and pro-Kremlin narratives in Western countries. The SBC firmly rejects the accusations The SBC reacted with a statement: “We take note of the RT DE article. We firmly reject the accusation in it of deliberately manipulating the population. The advert shown on the screenshot in the article did ...
