New Zealand national broadcaster chief apologises for 'inexcusable' pro-Russia stories

Radio New Zealand (RNZ) chief executive Paul Thompson has apologised for the public broadcaster's publishing of content he labelled "pro-Kremlin garbage". On Friday (June 9th), the publisher was alerted to several of its Ukraine war-related stories having been altered to support pro-Russian sentiments.

Following this discovery, an RNZ journalist has been placed on leave.

Here's what happened:

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How did pro-Russian content make it to the RNZ website?

As per a report on the RNZ website, a digital journalist has been placed on leave after it was found that he had altered copies from news agencies like Reuters to reflect pro-Russian views.

When questioned, the journalist told RNZ Checkpoint that he had been subbing the stories that way for a number of years and "nobody had queried it".

How is Radio New Zealand rectifying the situation?

As per RNZ head Paul Thompson, hundreds of stories have already been audited and more would be checked "with a fine-toothed comb".

21 stories have already been audited and edited to reflect "balanced" reports. They've been republished with corrections and editor's notes. Thousands more will be scrutinised.

What do RNZ executives have to say?

RNZ chief Paul Thompson has apologised to listeners, readers, staff and the Ukrainian community.

BBC reports that talking to RNZ's Nine to Noon, Thompson said: "It's so disappointing that this pro-Kremlin garbage has ended up in our stories."

"It's inexcusable," he added.

"It is so disappointing. I'm gutted. It's painful. It's shocking," he added."We have to get to the bottom of how it happened."

Jim Mather, a board person, said that the revelations have eroded public trust and that it will take a lot of work to come back from this.

"We see ourselves as guardians of a taonga and that taonga being the 98 years of history that RNZ has in terms of trusted public media and high standards of excellent journalism and so it is fair to say we are extremely disappointed," he told RNZ Checkpoint.

"We need to demonstrate that we are prepared to review every aspect of what has occurred to actually start the restoration process in terms of confidence in RNZ."

The 'pro-Kremlin' coverage

As per BBC, the edited articles included claims like Russia had annexed Crimea after a referendum. However, the referendum and the Russian occupation of Crimea, which is part of Ukraine's southern peninsula, are not recognised by Kyiv or the wider international community.The United Nations has even passed a resolution, emphasising the illegitimacy of the referendum.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark took to Twitter to voice her displeasure and said that she expectedbetter from the public broadcaster."Extraordinary that there is so little editorial oversight at Radio New Zealand that someone employed by/contracted to them was able to rewrite online content to reflect pro-Russia stance without senior staff noticing," she wrote.

(With inputs from agencies)

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