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WELLINGTON, New Zealand: After news stories posted on its website about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which were alleged to have been edited to present “a false account of events,” Radio New Zealand (RNZ) has launched an investigation and suspended a staff member.

By this week, RNZ, which is government-funded but has editorial independence, had corrected 16 stories on its website dating back to April 2022, due to their “inappropriate editing.”

Based on RNZ’s corrections to the stories, with 14 coming from Reuters and one from the BBC, it appeared that the editing changed the originals to present pro-Russian interpretations of events in Ukraine as fact.

In a statement, RNZ said it was continuing a detailed audit and analysis of all stories that could have been inappropriately edited.

RNZ is a media client of Reuters, which stated, “Reuters has addressed the issue with RNZ, which has initiated an investigation. As stated in our 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, in keeping with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.”

Willie Jackson, spokesperson for New Zealand’s minister for broadcasting and media, said the minister had been briefed on the manipulations.

Meanwhile, RNZ said a staff member had been put on leave while the inquiry was taking place, and can no longer access its computer systems.

A story was edited on RNZ’s website to read that in 2014 “a pro-Russian elected government was toppled during Ukraine’s violent Maidan colour revolution.” It then inaccurately claimed that “Russia annexed Crimea after a referendum, as the new pro-Western government suppressed ethnic Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine.”

The corrected version restored the original wording in the Reuters story, which stated that 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.”