"Voice of America" released two journalists because of accusations of working on Russian propaganda
Colleagues wrote that they had previously worked for pro -Russian media, spreading misinformation and "propaganda narratives", as well as "laid the basis" to justify the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine in 2022. In particular, TV presenter Harry Knyagnytsky previously worked on NTV and RTVI, at the same time NTV belongs to the Russian State Corporation Gazprom, which is under US sanctions.
In a WP comment, he stated that he was not a propagandist and supports Ukraine, which is why last year he went with RTVI. "His leadership forbade me to broadcast with Ukrainians who spoke about Russian shelling and murder in my news," Knyagnitsky shared. "The Voice of America gave me the opportunity to tell the truth about the war.
" Dariya Davidova previously worked on public television of Russia owned by the Russian government, as well as the mediampany of the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, whom the US government accused of evasion of sanctions. She did not respond to WP request. Despite the fact that Voice of America staff appealed to the management in November as soon as Knyagnytsky and Davidov began to work in the media, but the measures were not taken until the letter was published on February 21.
On February 23, Voice Managers of America advocated the support of Russian journalists, saying that they did not find any violations either in their edition or in the past. "The question is whether these people are able to do the work for whom we hired them and meet our standards of justice and objectivity in their coverage? We consider - yes," - anonymously commented on one of the executives.
In the official statement, Voice of America Prescribe Nigel Gibbs said the media management was investigating and discussing problems to answer employees' questions. At the same time, Harry Knyagitsky and Darius Davidov were removed from work. The accusation became especially dangerous for the Voice of America, which the US government founded in 1942 to combat Germany's propaganda.
A radio-speaking company, and nowadays, an Internet resource is designed to bring news to people in countries whose authorities expose the media to rigid censorship. In the past, Voice of America has already defended itself from suspicion of misinformation. As they wrote earlier, Harry Knyagnytsky filmed for NTV the plots of "genocide" in the Donbass. In one of the subjects, he told that the Ukrainian military was clinging to artillery at the signals of the civilians of civilians.