Councillor in Birmingham under fire for alleged support of Russia Today

In the now deleted tweet, Meirion Jenkins, the Conservative councillor for Sutton Mere Green, said the alleged bias in Russia Today was not “in any way worse” than the BBC.

The tweet, posted a day before the Russia-Ukraine invasion, read: “I used to occasionally watch Russia Today at lunchtimes; I didn’t think its journalism or bias was in any worse than the BBC.”

Councillor Brett O’Reilly challenged Councillor Jenkins at Birmingham City Council’s full council meeting, held at Aston Villa’s Holte Suite on Tuesday (March 15), and called for him to publicly apologise for “bringing the post of councillor into disrepute”.

He said: “Employees [at] the BBC have received international acclaim for their constant endeavours against the propaganda machine of Vladimir Putin. Winning the information war internationally is at times as important as winning the war on the ground.

“Will you [also] apologise to those brave souls that are serving on behalf of us and the free democratic world […]?”

But Councillor Jenkins refused to apologise, and doubled down on his claim Russia Today “was no less than balanced” than the BBC.

Councillor Jenkins said the BBC’s own coverage over political issues such as Brexit and the climate emergency was “extremely unfair and unbalanced”.

He said: “I speak as I find [Lord Mayor]. I refer back to a period over a number of years where occasionally I would watch Russia Today at lunchtime, for maybe 10 to 15 minutes.

“I’ve watched the BBC extensively over many years. When it comes to their treatment of Brexit, climate change, English nationalism versus Scottish independence, I found their coverage to be extremely unfair and unbalanced.

“I thought the coverage that I saw on Russia Today was no less than balanced than the coverage that I saw on the BBC.”

Councillor Jenkins said that his words “should not offer any comfort” to the Russian regime, now accused of conducting war crimes. "We don’t want to give any succour to our enemies, and Russia [is] now our [enemy].

“As I said, I speak as I find, and that’s how I find it,” he added.

Councillor Jenkins was approached for further comment, but said it was unreasonable to “drop everything” and provide a quote “in a very short timescale”.

But when challenged, he said: “A free press is a vital part of all democracies and brave journalists from all over the world are risking their lives to report on how the terrible Putin regime is inflicting so much unnecessary suffering on so many people.”

Councillor John O’Shea, said it was “an odd response” from Councillor Jenkins. He said: "Normally in a hole you stop digging.

“It was a pretty odd response. I believe both BBC and ITV journalists should be held with the highest respect with the coverage they have given us over the Russia-Ukraine invasion. It is quite obvious that Russia Today is biased.”

It comes as at least three Western journalists have been killed covering the Russian invasion in Ukraine this week.

Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, 24, and Irish Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, were killed when their vehicle was struck “as a result of artillery shelling by Russian troops in the north-eastern part of the village of Gorenka”, Ukrainian website kp.ua said.

Fox News foreign affairs correspondent Benjamin Hall, 39, remained in hospital, according to the Ukrainian authorities, who claim he had “lost part of his leg”.

On Sunday the American filmmaker and journalist Brent Renaud, 50, was shot and killed by Russian forces in Irpin, close to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. An American photographer, Juan Arredondo, was also wounded.

Last week, a Sky News crew was evacuated from Ukraine and flown back to the UK after a team of five journalists was shot at by a suspected Russian army squad.

The journalists were attacked while out in a car after they unsuccessfully tried to visit Bucha, a town near Kyiv.

Stuart Ramsay, Sky News’s chief correspondent, was shot in the back. Camera operator Richie Mockler was shot twice in his body armour.

The group was eventually able to escape from the car and found refuge in a nearby warehouse and garage, where they were later rescued by Ukrainian police