Defence analyst warned about threat of Russian disinformation in NZ 'for years'

Tuesday, 13 June 2023

Mahi for Ukraine's Kate Turska said both a physical war and a propaganda war were being fought.

Defence analyst Paul Buchanan said government-funded media outlet RNZ should have been better prepared for the threat of Russian disinformation, saying he had been warning people for “several years”.

Buchanan’s comments come after RNZ journalist, Michael Hall, admitted to editing articles to add pro-Kremlin sentiments to a number of RNZ articles.

Hall told RNZ’s Checkpoint on Monday morning he had been making the edits over the last five years, and no one had ever “tapped him on the shoulder” about it.

At least 15 articles from Reuters, and one article from the BBC, had edits made to them by Hall.

* RNZ orders external review over pro-Russian story edits

* RNZ's head of news to step down at the end of July

A RNZ journalist has been caught editing stories to include pro-Kremlin sentiments

RNZ stood down Hall last Friday, and has since reviewed hundreds of stories he edited for the website.

RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson said Hall had not yet been fired.

Speaking to RNZ’s Morning Report on Tuesday morning, Buchanan said RNZ should have been better prepared for people trying to spread disinformation, and not just pro-Russia sentiment.

Buchanan said the media should be aware of “troll farms” which is a term used to describe hundreds of people whose “sole purpose in life is to spread disinformation”.

“This is not only pro-Russia [disinformation], their goal is to undermine trust in liberal democracies,” he said.

Dr Jim Mather and the RNZ board will be meeting on Tuesday night to discuss the independent review.

The troll farms “ramped up” during the pandemic, taking advantage of conspiracy theories surrounding vaccinations.

“Let’s be clear - a lot of the anti-vaxxers were motivated by disinformation that had come from abroad,” he said.

RNZ’s board chair, Jim Mather, told Morning Report the board will meet on Tuesday night to discuss who will run the independent investigation into the incident, and what its terms of reference will be.

Mather said the public’s confidence in RNZ has been eroded, and the board is prepared to review everything that has happened to restore confidence in the public broadcaster.

The review will look at why the behaviour of Hall was not identified earlier.

“We see ourselves as guardians of a taonga, and that taonga being 98 years of history that RNZ has in terms of the trusted public media and high standards of excellent journalism,” Mather told Morning Report.

“It is fair to say we are extremely disappointed.”

Mather said the currency of the public broadcaster is trust, and it will be a massive challenge to come back from what has happened.

He said the scandal had had a “significant” impact on RNZ’s journalists.

The board has not asked RNZ’s chief executive, Paul Thompson, to step down.

The review will look at the judgement of senior managers and their oversight of the journalists.

“I certainly have judgement about the systems that we have in place, I am going to await the findings of the review in terms of the judgement of management around the whole issue,” he said.

Thompson said no one from senior management had offered up their resignations due to the incident.

Reuters said it has addressed the issue with RNZ, and as stated in their terms and conditions, Reuters content cannot be altered without prior written consent.

“Reuters is fully committed to covering the war in Ukraine impartially and accurately,” a spokesperson said in a statement.