Radio New Zealand employee placed on leave amid investigation into pro-Russia editing of Ukraine reports

Evidence emerged late last week that a number of articles on Ukraine attributed to wire services had been edited by RNZ to insert new sentences and paragraphs Photograph: Richard Sowersby/Alamy

An employee at New Zealand’s national broadcaster, RNZ, has been placed on leave amid an investigation into how wire service news reports on the Ukraine war were rewritten to insert a pro-Russia slant.

Evidence emerged on Friday and Saturday that a number of articles attributed to the Reuters wire service or the BBC had been edited by RNZ to insert new sentences and paragraphs. In a radio interview on Monday, RNZ’s chief executive, Paul Thompson, described the edits as “pro-Kremlin garbage”, and said the news services would search thousands of articles “with a fine-tooth comb”.