Radio New Zealand will undergo an external review of its online editorial process after it discovered inappropriate editing of a number of news wire stories about the war in Ukraine.
Interest.co.nz first reported on Friday that RNZ had republished a Reuters story which had been modified to reflect a more pro-Russian perspective on how the conflict began.
The original text had an orthodox Western view, saying the conflict began in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea after the Maidan Revolution toppled the pro-Russian president.
However, when the news story was republished by RNZ it was modified to include claims the new government had suppressed ethnic Russians and Russia had only annexed Crimea after a referendum.
RNZ’s edited version also cut out the first paragraph of the Reuters story, but this did not significantly affect the original meaning of the story in any obvious way.
Reuters has a policy that prevents customers from altering its stories without consent.
Stephen Hoadley, an associate professor of politics and international relations at Auckland University, said the edited version had a “definite pro-Russia flavour”.
“Its narrative is the opposite of the understanding of mainstream Western governments and media, inasmuch as it puts the blame on Ukraine,” he said in an email.
When the modifications were discovered, RNZ restored the story to the way it had been written by Reuters and began an investigation into who had edited it.
It has now found 14 instances of inappropriate editing over the past year and issued corrections for each with a note which reads:
“This story was edited inappropriately and has been corrected. It has been reverted to Reuters copy. RNZ is concerned and takes this matter extremely seriously. We are investigating and have taken appropriate action.”
The government-owned news publication has launched an investigation into one employee who has been placed on leave. Interest.co.nz understands they were a digital producer.
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson said he will commission an external review of the processes for the editing of online stories. The outcome of this will be made public.
Political backlash
Stuff.co.nz reported that Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson had been briefed on the situation and described it as “a major issue” that was “unprecedented for RNZ”.
Act Party leader David Seymour said the situation was “deeply concerning” and called for an urgent and transparent investigation.
“The Ukrainians are fighting for their very existence against a brutal dictatorship. If our state broadcaster has published material that has included Russian propaganda it would be appalling,” he said in a statement.
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