Ofcom investigates Alex Salmond's TV show on Kremlin-backed channel

The broadcasting watchdog Ofcom is investigating Alex Salmond’s new television programme on the Kremlin-backed RT network.

The Alex Salmond Show, hosted by the former Scottish first minister, began airing last month on the RT channel, previously known as Russia Today. Ofcom has launched an investigation into whether the political show broke accuracy rules, and is also assessing a series of tweets which were presented as written by members of the audience but did not appear to have been posted on social media.

Guests on the 16 November episode, which is under investigation, included the deposed Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, Tory MP Crispin Blunt and Labour peer Helena Kennedy.

An Ofcom spokeswoman said: “We are investigating whether this programme breached our rules on due accuracy.”

Over the course of the programme, posts from Twitter were featured. However, viewers pointed out that the “audience members” appeared to be connected to the programme.

Salmond’s decision to host a programme on the Russian network has been criticised by opposition politicians as well as by his successor Nicola Sturgeon, who said she would have “advised against RT and suggested he seek a different channel”.

Jackson Carlaw, the deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has said it “beggars belief” that Salmond would work with RT.

When the programme launched, Salmond said it would take the news “out of the Westminster nexus”.

A spokesperson for RT said: “Per Ofcom guidelines we are unable to comment on its inquiries, and, as Ofcom advises, it is important to note that an investigation by Ofcom does not necessarily mean the broadcaster or service provider has done anything wrong.”

Russia Today launched internationally in 2005 and has grown fast. It was rebranded as RT in 2009 and RT America launched in 2010. There are increasing concerns about Russia’s influence on media and social media around the world, with particular questions around RT’s activities.

British MPs have received substantial fees for appearing on RT in recent months. According to the parliamentary register of interests, the Conservative MP Nigel Evans has been paid £1,500 this year, while the Monmouth MP, David Davies, received £2,250 in the same period for appearing on Sam Delaney’s News Thing, an RT programme. Labour’s Rosie Duffield received £500.

According to his register of interests, Blunt listed a payment of £250 to an unspecified non-governmental organisation by Slàinte Media at the time that his interview was aired on RT. Slàinte Media produces The Alex Salmond Show.

A spokesman for Slàinte Media said: “This is an investigation by Ofcom into a single complaint in relation to tweets and messages used on the first edition of The Alex Salmond Show.

“As we said when the complaint was first made public on 17 November, we will be happy to co-operate with the Ofcom investigation and are confident of a satisfactory outcome.”

The spokesman added that the Ofcom bulletin which includes the investigation into The Alex Salmond Show also lists nine additional investigations into other broadcasting organisations spanning a two-week period.

Ofcom is also investigating an interview by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme last August. The investigation follows complaints about an interview with the former chancellor Lord Lawson about climate change.

The BBC recently upheld complaints it received about the interview but, because it is the second time in three years that a similar issue has arisen, Ofcom is also investigating the broadcaster.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We are investigating whether this interview, which followed a similar interview in 2014, breached our rules on due accuracy and due impartiality.”