An RNZ journalist accused of inappropriately slanting international news stories has resigned from the public broadcaster after being stood down two weeks ago.
The broadcaster has been engulfed in controversy over its editorial checks after revelations that "pro-Kremlin garbage" had been edited into news articles sourced from reputable overseas agencies about the Ukraine war.
RNZ's chief executive and editor-in-chief, Paul Thompson, announced the news of the digital journalist's departure in a staff email this afternoon.
"As shared with you last week, RNZ initiated an employment process with one employee. I said I would keep you updated about that. The employee has resigned and has left the organisation," a staff email obtained by 1News read.
An ongoing internal audit of articles posted by the journalist has thus far found 36 stories that RNZ website staff have deemed to have been "inappropriately edited".
The chief executive said the incident exposed a "systemic weakness" in the way in which stories were published on its website. (Source: 1News)
While "inappropriate edits" were first found on articles about the war in Ukraine, other Reuters and BBC world news stories on other topics have also since been corrected.
These include stories about the Israel-Palestine conflict, China-Taiwan relations, and the Syrian civil war, among others. The journalist said they had edited stories "that way" for many years, RNZ's Checkpoint reported last Monday.
"I subbed several stories that way over a number of years, in fact, since I started at Radio New Zealand. And I have done that for five years, and no one has tapped me on the shoulder and told me I was doing anything wrong," they reportedly said.
Mahi for Ukraine's Kate Turska said both a physical war and a propaganda war were being fought. (Source: Breakfast)
Thompson earlier described the edits as "pro-Kremlin garbage". Meanwhile, RNZ has said additional checks are in place for international news stories published on its website.
An external inquiry is currently underway into RNZ's editorial processes and standards.
A three-person panel has been "collecting key documents" and will speak to "a range of people from across" the news organisation next week, Thompson told staff today.
Additionally, the chief executive told staff that conversations with the panel would be "in confidence" and that they could take a support person to do so.
Email sent to RNZ staff today
As shared with you last week, RNZ initiated an employment process with one employee. I said I would keep you updated about that.
The employee has resigned and has left the organisation.
This morning I forwarded an email from the independent panel with an update on its progress in relation to the inappropriate editing of wire stories.
As the panel confirmed, it has been collecting some key documents up to this point — on editorial policies and standards, training materials, organisational charts etc — and next week, it will talk to a range of people from across RNZ.
People asked for a confidential conversation with the panel are allowed to take a support person. If you have been approached to do this and need any extra pastoral care or support from RNZ, please talk to your manager or the people team.
This will also remain in confidence. It is vitally important people feel they can contribute freely to the panel. If you incur any costs related to this, RNZ will cover these.
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