Just two days after a TV presenter for Russia Today, or RT, called Russian intervention in Ukraine "wrong" on air, a different RT anchor said this:
"Personally, I cannot be a part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin. ... I'm resigning." (Via RT)
That was Liz Wahl, an American working at the Washington, D.C. bureau of the Kremlin-backed RT.
In her public resignation, Wahl told viewers her parents fled Soviet persecution during the Hungarian revolution. Politico writes she cited that as one of the reasons she chose to step down.
Wahl said in interviews Wednesday what happened on-air was a long time coming. She said working there was an ethical and moral challenge and told CNN's Piers Morgan she put up with RT's Russian slant as long as she could.
"The objective of RT has been to promote Putinist propaganda, to promote the conflict as Putin wants us to see it." (Via CNN)
RT responded to Wahl's resignation with a scathing e-mail sent to Buzzfeed. It read, in part, "When a journalist disagrees with the editorial position of his or her organization, the usual course of action is to address those grievances with the editor, and, if they cannot be resolved, to quit like a professional. But when someone makes a big public show of a personal decision, it is nothing more than a self-promotional stunt."
RT's response to Abby Martin, the other presenter who didn't quit but voiced her own opinions Monday, took a much different tone. The outlet released a statement saying their journalists are free to express their own opinions in private and on-air.
But Sam Knight, a former employee at the English-language branch of RT, told National Journal that's not quite the case. He said, "I remember being told that certain topics were out of bounds. ... The implicit message was clear: Foreign affairs from an American perspective were acceptable as long as they weren't offensive to Moscow."
We previously reported Russian media accused the U.S. of hypocrisy, while downplaying Russian military involvement in Crimea, a peninsula in the Southern region of Ukraine. (Via Voice of Russia)
Other websites have dedicated their efforts to fact checking reporting on the situation in Crimea, saying stories from the press have been rife with errors on both sides of the conflict. (Via StopFake.org)
Both Martin and Wahl have expressed their gratitude for the support they've received online since making their comments.
