WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Following allegations that news reports regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were modified to offer “a false account of events,” Radio New Zealand (RNZ) has begun an investigation and suspended a staff member.
By this week, RNZ, a government-funded but editorially independent news organisation, has revised 16 pieces on its website dating back to April 2022 owing to “inappropriate editing.”
According to RNZ’s edits to the items, 14 of which came from Reuters and one from the BBC, the editing appeared to have transformed the originals to reflect pro-Russian views of events in Ukraine as reality.
RNZ said in a statement that it was continuing a thorough investigation and review of any stories that could have been improperly modified.
“Reuters has addressed the issue with RNZ, which has initiated an investigation,” according to Reuters. Reuters content, as specified in our terms and conditions, cannot be altered without prior written approval.
In accordance with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles, Reuters is fully committed to covering the Ukrainian conflict impartially and accurately.”
Willie Jackson, the minister of broadcasting and communications in New Zealand, said the minister has been told on the manipulations.
Meanwhile, RNZ stated a staff member had been placed on leave throughout the investigation and could no longer access the company’s computer systems.
On the RNZ website, a piece was changed to say that in 2014, “a pro-Russian elected government was toppled during Ukraine’s violent Maidan colour revolution.” It then claimed, incorrectly, that “Russia annexed Crimea after a referendum, while the new pro-Western government suppressed ethnic Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine.”
The corrected version of the Reuters story restored the original wording, which stated that the “conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014 after a pro-Russian president was toppled in Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution and Russia annexed Crimea, with Russian-backed separatist forces fighting Ukraine’s armed forces.”
