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Monday, June 12, 2023

Pro-Russia edits at RNZ may have been happening for years

 



New Zealand
An RNZ digital journalist who allegedly inserted pro-Russian sentiment into news stories claims they have edited reports in that way for five years and nobody queried it.

The public broadcaster is launching a review after it said it found out on Friday that stories were being altered to give them a pro-Russian slant.

That was despite concerns being raised about the journalist's work more than a year ago. They have now been placed on leave.

So far, 250 stories have been reviewed and 16 have had to be corrected.

RNZ management has conceded the broadcaster's process for publishing stories from other media companies has not been strong enough, and there will be an external review of editorial processes.

"I subbed several stories that way over the past number of years," the journalist told Checkpoint.

"In fact since I started RNZ and… I have done that for five years and nobody has tapped me on the shoulder and told me that I was doing anything wrong."

Checkpoint reported that those claims had not yet been verified by the staff member's managers.

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