UKRAINE: CREATING THE NEW RUSSIAN BOGEYMAN

With RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson dismissing alternative views on Ukraine as 'pro-Kremlin garbage', efforts continue to smear them as part of a Russian 'disinformation' campaign. Sanjana Hattotuwa of the Disinformation Project has suggested that suspended RNZ journalist Michael Hall might even be a Russian stooge.

RADIO NEW ZEALAND has decided that differing and opposing views to the establishment narrative on Ukraine must be, by definition, pro-Russian. Or, in the words of RNZ chief executive, Paul Thompson; 'Kremlin garbage'. Having made that decision, work will now carry on apace to ensure that this position is maintained and RNZ'S coverage of the war in Ukraine remains largely unscrutinised. 

The suspended journalist at the centre of it all, Michael Hall, is likely to be looking for a new job once RNZ's investigation is over. While he told RNZ's Checkpoint that he had been sub-editing stories for five years 'and nobody has tapped me on the shoulder and told me that I was doing anything wrong.' it is not his superiors who will be eventually walking through the door marked 'Exit'. Paul Thompson will not be resigning. Nor will Head of Digital Content Megan Whelan. She continues to maintain a low profile although the scuttlebutt is that she's in line for a demotion once the investigation is over and 'new processes' are introduced.

So far Michael Hall is having to fight his corner alone. He cannot count on any public support from his RNZ colleagues. There is an imposed orthodoxy at RNZ that does not encourage dissenting voices. Hall's union, E tu, also has said nothing. So much for worker solidarity.

Michael Hall is well on his way to being packaged and dismissed as a 'Russian sympathiser'. It has even been suggested that he is a 'Russian agent' and the security services undoubtedly have been looking into his background. 

It has been claimed that a campaign of Russian disinformation is under way in New Zealand. 

Sanjana Hattotuwa of the Disinformation Project wrote several days ago that the editorial mishaps at RNZ were an 'issue greater than a single person at the country’s public broadcaster.' Instead, he claimed, it represented 'Russian disinformation’s entry, expansion, and entrenchment in New Zealand’s news, information, and media landscapes.'

Hattotuwa claimed, without providing any credible evidence, that Michael Hall was, effectively, a Russian stooge: 

'The discovery of Russian disinformation’s promotion by RNZ is a significant development, speaking to a broader spectrum of “active measures” instrumentalising a high-trust society’s implicit faith in incorruptible practices by fellow citizens.

'The lack of oversight, and early detection suggest RNZ never planned or accounted for Russian disinformation’s infiltration of newsroom output, and editorial input.'

This is little more than Russiaphobic hysteria and barely intelligible. However we have come to expect such evidence-free claims from Hattotuwa. It was not so long ago that he was claiming that the UK woman's right campaigner Posey Parker and her supporters represented 'neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, anti-Semitic networks and individuals.' Again, no evidence was provided.

But it has not just been the excitable Hattotuwa who has been indulging in anti-Russian hysteria. Security analyst Paul Buchanan, who formerly worked for the US Defence Department and alongside the CIA, commented recently that Russia was 'very, very good at spreading disinformation.' But, like Hattotuwa, he provided no tangible evidence of such a Russian disinformation campaign in New Zealand. 

Back in the day former Prime Minister Rob Muldoon would go looking for 'reds under the bed'. These days, now that the Stalinist bogeyman has disappeared, the political establishment has identified Vladmir Putin as the new convenient evil incarnate.  

Russia has become the all-purpose villain for the liberal left that dominates mainstream media outlets like RNZ. The war in Ukraine is not the media’s fault nor the fault of western  governments. The responsibility for that lies with Putin. But RNZ should be open to  commentary that explains Russia's historical grievances and current anxieties rather than just summarily dismissing than as 'pro-Kremlin garbage.' That's the behaviour of a public broadcaster acting as a propaganda vehicle for the United States-driven narrative on Ukraine.

WHILE RNZ might be warning of a Russian disinformation campaign, the public broadcaster has been indulging in some disinformation of its own.

After claiming that high profile host Karyn Hay resigned from the public broadcaster in order to 'concentrate on her writing projects', the truth has proved to be something entirely different. 

Shayne Currie of the NZ Herald has reported that Hay had resigned, among other things, because of a dispute with a producer. According to Currie RNZ's investigation into Hay’s behaviour had focused on complaints she spoke 'negatively' about others, including fellow staff, behaved aggressively and had allegedly 'undermined colleagues' in the studio environment.

It's all as clear as mud. And, since Karyn Hay has yet to make any comment, we are, so far, only getting RNZ's version of events.