BGTN Independent BRICS+ Channel

The ombudsman of the South African Rapport newspaper, housed on Netwerk24, has removed an erroneous reference to BGTN that claimed the channel was established by a Russian state-controlled holding company. This was reported in an article published on 11 August 2024. City Press, which is also housed on News24, ran with the same story.

Albert Weidman, the ombudsman, wrote to Paula Slier, the owner and founder of  BGTN:-

Dear Ms Slier

After investigating your complaint, I have removed the erroneous reference to the Russian-owned holding company from the Rapport version of the story, which is housed on Netwerk24.

I will suggest to my colleagues at City Press that they take similar steps with their version of the story, which is housed on News24.

Regards

Albert Weideman

Slier stressed that BGTN was an independent channel set up by herself, and her husband, CEO Trevor Bester, in 2023. This was after she resigned from Russia Today (RT) where she had served as their Middle East Bureau Chief for 18 years. Slier returned to South Africa in 2022 to set up RT Africa. RT and BGTN are in no way linked.

“As the world’s first BRICS+ television network, BGTN reports on all BRICS+ countries, which includes Russia, and our agenda is to inform and build relationships across the BRICS+ world,” said Slier.

“We have reported on the rich history of the South African Afrikaans community and Russia in several documentaries as well as the assistance the USSR provided to ANC liberation fighters.”