DISINFO: Deportation of RT reporter shows Western Europe has no democracy nor free press
SUMMARY
Neither democracy nor a free press exists in modern European NATO nations. Chay Bowes’ arrest and deportation highlight the totalitarianism of Western Europe. The fact is: there is no democracy in these NATO nations because there is no free press. There is no free journalism. The attacks on the press in Western Europe are aimed at controlling voters’ access to information. The importance of the European Union and Britain in clamping down on journalism is to prevent their publics from understanding the issues so they can’t cast a vote with an informed opinion. They want to detain people like Chay Bowes, who reports for RT and has a show on RT. They want to detain him because they want to stop the free press.
RESPONSE
This is a disingenuous attempt to exploit the incident of the deportation of RT reporter Chay Bowes from Romania to discredit European democratic systems. Claims about Europe’s alleged lack of democracy and free press are baseless: as this disinformation story appeared, Reporters Without Borders published its 2025 World Press Freedom Index in which Europe has, once again, the best global score. According to the latest Democracy Index of the Economist Intelligence Unit when this disinformation story appeared, Western Europe had the highest index score of any region and was the only one to improve its overall score in 2024.
This core claim of this disinformation story is also based on a gross distortion and exaggeration of facts. According to Romania’s border police, officers at Bucharest airport carried out a mandatory security check for all travellers, which revealed that Bowes “was prohibited from entering the national territory, which is why the border police officers did not allow him to enter Romania”. Bowes “was informed about the situation and was also given a form regarding the measure ordered and the reason for it, as well as the legal way to contest it.”
Although the reason for this was not specified, Bowes has been identified as a source of disinformation in foreign interference campaigns in Ireland and other European countries. His outlet RT was found to be a key element interfering in Romania’s presidential election in 2024, ultimately annulled on fears that such interference led to a distorted outcome. As RT has been sanctioned for destabilisation actions and being a tool for Russia’s intelligence services, preventing this TV channel from acting in Romania ensures a freer electoral process rather than the opposite.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that European elites want to turn the EU into the Fourth Reich, that Europe tramples on free speech as it bans pro-Kremlin outlets, that the US and EU only support democratic elections when the winner aligns with their interests, that European democracy kills anyone with a different opinion such as Fico, that there is no democracy in Europe, that press freedom means nothing to the European Union, or that Russian media are telling inconvenient truths are persecuted, whilst in Russia media is free.