DFL announces consequences of censorship
Russians cancel BVB game broadcast
4/5/2022 7:01 am
During the Borussia Dortmund game against RB Leipzig in the Westfalenstadion last Saturday, pro-Ukrainian messages can be seen. The Russian TV broadcaster MatchTV then aborts the transmission prematurely – the commentator gets angry.
Blue and yellow lettering on the advertising boards, clear messages on the video screens, Ukrainian flags in the audience: Borussia Dortmund and its fans sent a clear message and spread the word on Saturday evening during the top game in the Bundesliga against RB Leipzig (1: 4). the demand “Stop the war!” in different ways. However, these actions were not well received by the Russian addressees. Unlike Ligue 1 and the Premier League, the Bundesliga is still broadcast in Russia, but viewers didn’t get to see much of the BVB game.
The reason: The “Futbol3” channel of the MatchTV broadcaster broke off the transmission before the end of the first half. “Unfortunately, we have to cancel the broadcast for reasons beyond our control,” commentator Igor Kytmanov said after the broadcast was canceled. “In general, it is said that football and politics should be considered separately, but this rule is not always respected in the Bundesliga,” said the comment about the pro-Ukrainian rallies in Signal Iduna Park. The termination of the Russian side should now have consequences. From the German Football League.
DFL works against Russian propaganda
At the beginning of March, the DFL had donated one million euros for the people in war-torn Ukraine and at the same time tried to attack the propaganda of the Russian state media. The donation included all income that was still provided for in the current season by the contract with the company Match TV – and from which the DFL says “does not want to benefit in the current situation”. At the same time, an extraordinary dismissal was waived so that the “anti-war calls and appeals for peace from the stadiums can continue to reach the Russian population.”
The prerequisite for this was that Match TV broadcast the basic signal provided by the DFL unchanged – including Ukraine-related messages from the league, players, clubs and fans. The DFL “will carefully review the broadcast of the Bundesliga broadcasts in this regard,” it said in a statement. If the “TV base signal were repeatedly censored, this would result in an extraordinary termination by the DFL”. A request from ntv.de, which consequences the DFL draws from the incident in Dortmund, should be answered in the course of the day.
Media expert Christina Archetti from the University of Oslo explained the cancellation of the transmission to the Norwegian broadcaster “NRK” meanwhile as follows: “I’m not surprised because Russia controls very strictly what news is shown. […] This is not only a war on the battlefield, but also an information war. […] The Kremlin will find an alternate reality, but it will be difficult to deny people something so big, shared by so many.”
