WATCH Alex Salmond: Closing down Russia Today would be 'mockery of free speech'
3 min read
Alex Salmond has urged broadcast watchdogs not to shut down Russia Today in the wake of the nerve agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal.
Speaking on the chat show he presents on the Kremlin-sponsored channel, the former SNP leader and Scottish first minister said taking away its licence would be "a mockery of free speech".
Mr Salmond also insisted that he had "no brief from the Kremlin nor am I required to have."
And he backed Jeremy Corbyn's claim that Theresa May must produce hard evidence proving Russia was behind the attempted murder of Mr Skripal and his daughter, Yuria.
Broadcast regulator Ofcom is looking into Russia Today's licence after it reported the claim that the pair landed themselves in hospital with a drug overdose.
But Mr Salmond told his viewers today that his show was "independently produced" and that there was no editorial interference from Moscow.
"I can say what I like about any issue and so can any one of any of my guests," he said. "Not a single one of them has complained about being silenced - that is because not a single one of them has been.
"I hold no brief from the Kremlin nor am I required to have. No-one has tried to influence the content of this show in any way shape or form whatsoever."
He argued Russia Today was not a propaganda station “by definition” because it is Ofcom regulated - and he said all broadcasters including the BBC and Sky had breached the regulatory code.
"Don’t shut down TV stations because your standpoint is so uncertain that you must exclude other perspectives," he urged watchdogs.
"To censure would make a travesty of the concept of nations speaking unto nations, a mockery of freedom of speech and it would portray an image of country lost in self doubt."
He added: "It would also strike a fatal bargain. Liberal democracies don’t succeed in international confrontations by sacrificing their dearest held values of freedom of speech."
On the Salisbury attack, Mr Salmond said: "To succeed [in taking action] the evidence has to be overwhelming and the case cast iron - as the Leader of the Opposition correctly pointed out to the Prime Minister.
"He didn’t get much support for making that point in the House of Commons but that does not make him wrong."
But Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie told Mr Salmond to shut down his show "before you embarrass yourself and shame your former office any longer".
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