ITC Fines Satellite Channel £90,000

The ITC has fined Med TV, a UK satellite service for Kurdish viewers in Europe, Turkey and the Middle East, £90,000 for three “serious” breaches of the Commission’s impartiality requirements.

The station was fined £50,000 for a programme which consisted entirely of coverage of a political rally organised by the PKK (Workers’ Party of Kurdistan) with “no context” and “no balancing material.” It was also fined £25,000 for a news programme which included a condemnation, seemingly endorsed by Med TV, of a list of terrorist organisations produced by the USA. A further £15,000 fine was incurred for a Med TV news item in which a journalist described members of the Kurdish Democratic Party as ‘treacherous and murderous.’

ITC: 0171 255 3000