Best of New Zealand’s national public service radio broadcaster, Radio New Zealand (RNZ), has issued an apology for publishing content material favouring the Kremlin’s narrative on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Over a dozen wire agency articles had been discovered to have been altered, prompting RNZ’s chief government, Paul Thompson, to call it a “serious breach” of editorial requirements and label the content as “pro-Kremlin rubbish.”
Thompson introduced an impartial investigation after it was discovered that a story from Reuters had been modified to align with Russia’s viewpoint on the Ukraine conflict. The edited article falsely claimed that a pro-Russian elected authorities was overthrown during Ukraine’s violent Maidan color revolution in 2014, and that Russia annexed Crimea after a referendum, as the new pro-Western authorities suppressed ethnic Russians in jap and southern Ukraine.
The Maidan Revolution led to the ousting of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich in 2014, following months of protests triggered by his rejection of a European Union trade deal in favour of nearer ties with Russia. Over a hundred protesters have been killed by security forces, and Yanukovich eventually fled to Moscow. Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014 has not been recognised by the international group, with the United Nations General Assembly passing a resolution declaring the referendum invalid.
RNZ has corrected 17 revealed stories up to now, with most of them being from Reuters, and some featuring the bylines of company reporters. The corrected articles have been republished with editors’ notes, dating back to April 2022. Reuters has addressed the issue with RNZ, stating that their content material can’t be altered without prior written consent and reaffirming their dedication to neutral and correct coverage of the warfare in Ukraine..