"What could be done to help the Russian civil society against the reinforced censorship implemented by the government since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and to make the Russian population aware of what is succeeding ?

The Denis Diderot Committee, created by various experts in the field of European audiovisual matters has launched the proposal of EU sanctions against the two Russian pay-TV platforms NTV+ and Trikolor, operating on Eutelsat 36E satellites. Taking advantage of their gatekeeper position, those two platforms have since early March eliminated 8 international news channels from their offer. Sanctions by the EU and possibly by the intergovernmental organisation EUTELSAT IGO could allow Eutelsat SA to reallocate capacities to the international news channels and independent Russian or Ukrainian speaking channels, with the possibility of reaching in a free-to-air DTH manner around 30 % of Russian TV households.

The Denis Diderot Committee has published a report and a petition, available on its website https://histv3.wixsite.com/denisdiderot.

The petition was signed by various professionals and by various researchers in communication, including ECREA Chairman John Downey and also by all the Members of the National Council for Radio and Television of Ukraine, the regulatory authority in this country

https://histv3.wixsite.com/denisdiderot/petition

If you wish to have your name included in the list of signatories, you may send an email to me. If you prefer sign it without your name being published, you can sign the petition on Avaaz :

in English https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/en/l_union_europeenne_et_eutelsat_igo_pour_des_sanctions_contre_ntv_et_trikolor_censeurs_russes_de_l_information_pluraliste

or in French : https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/fr/l_union_europeenne_et_eutelsat_igo_pour_des_sanctions_contre_ntv_et_trikolor_censeurs_russes_de_l_information_pluraliste/

The report and the petition were already submitted to the various concerned bodies of the European Union, to the Executive Secretary of the EUTELSAT IGO and to the national regulatory authorities members of the ERGA.

Further signatures will of course reinforce the possible impact of the proposal.

Thank you in advance for your attention and support.

Dr André Lange

Coordinator of the Denis Diderot Committee

Scientific collaborator of the Department Media, Culture and Communication

Former Head of Department at the European Audiovisual Observatory

histv3@gmail.com