(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Russian Mole Uncovered at Radio New Zealand? [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-06-12  

A disturbing article in The Guardian today about a possible Russian mole working at Radio New Zealand to insert pro-Kremlin talking points into their coverage of the war in Ukraine:

An employee at New Zealand’s national broadcaster, RNZ, has been placed on leave amid an investigation into how wire service news reports on the Ukraine war were rewritten to insert a pro-Russia slant.

Evidence emerged on Friday and Saturday that a number of articles attributed to the Reuters wire service or the BBC had been edited by RNZ to insert new sentences and paragraphs. In a radio interview on Monday, RNZ’s chief executive, Paul Thompson, described the edits as “pro-Kremlin garbage”, and said the news services would search thousands of articles “with a fine-tooth comb”.

…

New Zealand’s minister for broadcasting, Willie Jackson, was briefed on the matter over the weekend and said it was a “major issue” and “unprecedented for RNZ”.

Dating back to April 2022, the articles in question had made a range of changes to Reuters’ journalism, with a consistent pattern of adding Russian government talking points to news reports without additional attribution.

…

RNZ encompasses a national broadcast radio station and news website. The organisation is government funded but has editorial independence. It is highly influential in New Zealand’s news landscape – as well as being among the country’s largest newsrooms, it holds republishing deals with all of New Zealand’s large commercial media organisations, meaning that RNZ reports are regularly republished by websites and newspapers around the country.

...

The outlet said in a statement: “An investigation is under way into the alleged conduct of one employee relating to this matter. That employee is on leave and does not have access to RNZ computer systems.”

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/12/2174945/-Russian-Mole-Uncovered-at-Radio-New-Zealand

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/