RNZ saga may be related to disinformation from overseas, says security analyst
Saturday, 10 June 2023
A series of “Russian propaganda” stories published on the RNZ website may be related to the spread of overseas disinformation in New Zealand, a security analyst says.
On Thursday, RNZ published a story that contained a false account of events in Ukraine. The story originally ran on the international news agency Reuters without misinformation. It later appeared on RNZ with edits to include a pro-Russian view.
Further investigation has since revealed that more than a dozen stories had been edited on RNZ’s website to slant coverage in favour of Moscow.
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson on Saturday confirmed he had launched an external review of processes for editing online stories “to ensure these are robust”, and a staff member has been put on leave and no longer has access to RNZ computer systems.
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“RNZ is continuing with a detailed audit and analysis of all stories with the potential for inappropriate editing of wire service stories on the website,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
“RNZ is checking other stories and continues with a thorough analysis which may take some time.”
Thompson confirmed to Stuff that he’d told staff he was “gutted” by what had happened.
Security analyst Paul Buchanan said while it wasn’t yet clear what exactly had happened, New Zealand had become a target for overseas disinformation in the last few years.
“Because of the pandemic and the Government's highly successful response, New Zealand has been flooded by foreign disinformation and misinformation.
“New Zealand is a good target because if you can undermine the New Zealand liberal democracy – which is very progressive in the world’s eyes – then you can do it for any democracy,” he said.
Disinformation appears on chat groups and right-wing media before it starts to spread, he said.
Much of this propaganda is anti-LGBTQIA+ rights and aims to fuel culture-war politics, but Buchanan said some of the disinformation is about the war on Ukraine.
“Russia is very, very good at spreading disinformation,” he said.
However, Buchanan stressed that only a small part of New Zealand’s population held anti-Ukraine beliefs.
Verica Rupar, a journalism professor at AUT, warned against speculating how Russian propaganda came to appear on the RNZ website.
“What happened here is very, very concerning, but it is very dangerous to guess what happened.
“It could be an individual, it could be a propaganda war. It would be good if Radio New Zealand is transparent instead of creating an atmosphere where people guess,” she said.
After the alarm was raised about the altered Reuters story, RNZ said it was auditing previous articles to check for further problems.
“RNZ is concerned and takes this matter extremely seriously,” read a note at the bottom of the article.
As of 6pm on Saturday, Mediawatch said that RNZ had found 15 instances of “inappropriate editing” of stories taken from other news outlets.
The original Reuters story by its Moscow bureau chief Guy Faulconbridge said:
'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.”
It was altered to say:
“The conflict in Ukraine began in 2014 after a pro-Russian elected government was toppled during Ukraine's violent Maidan colour revolution. Russia annexed Crimea after a referendum, as the new pro-Western government suppressed ethnic Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine, sending in its armed forces to the Donbas.”
Reuters’ policy is that its stories are not altered without consent.
On Saturday afternoon, Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson told Stuff he had been briefed by RNZ board chairperson Jim Mather on the situation.
“I can see that they’ve got it in hand. They’ve stood down the person. I’m comfortable with that,” Jackson said.
Jackson described the incident as a “major issue” that was “unprecedented for RNZ”.
RNZ said it was treating the issue “very seriously” and would publicly release the outcome of the external review.
The following stories have now been corrected on RNZ’s website:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/491618/increasing-talk-of-war-in-russia-worrying-sign-of-escalation
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/486739/putin-says-moscow-to-station-nuclear-weapons-in-belarus
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/473108/fighting-deadlocked-ahead-of-visit-by-un-chief-ukraine-says
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/466426/russian-strikes-pound-ukraine-on-eve-of-new-eu-sanctions
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/466070/ukraine-war-putin-warns-against-foreign-intervention