.....and I'd have loved it to have been me.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/06/rnz-staff-member-placed-on-leave-over-pro-russia-story-edits.html

Seems one employee in the editorial team of Radio New Zealand has been quietly editing Reuter's news bulletins to put a more Russophile slant on the news.

The original 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."

But when republished on RNZ.co.nz, that passage adopted a more Kremlin-friendly framing.

"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."

There's a very good programme in RNZ called "Mediawatch" and they are investigating. It's likely there'll be an item about this matter in tomorrows broadcast. I'll send a link. I'm going to write to Mediawatch and suggest that whilst I don't actually approve of underhand editorial tactics, a modest amount of a Russian take on events might be useful counter to the overwhelming propaganda of the Western media. eg. This was an unprovoked attack, Ukraine's winning, this is not a proxy war, Russia blew up the Nordstream, that Zelansky is Ukraine's Churchill, etc etc