Euronews has issued a response to an open letter from the Ukrainian media community criticising its coverage of the war in Ukraine.
As previously reported by Broadband TV News, the letter was dated September 14 and sent to Euronews; the investment company Alpac Capital, which recently acquired a controlling stake in the broadcaster; and the European Commission (EC). It specifically referred to the Russian language version of Euronews.
In its response, Euronews said it found the letter “both surprising and concerning”, while understanding at the same the circumstances under which it was written.
It went on to say: “Surprising because it is not normal practice among news organizations to complain to a political institution (here, the European Commission through both its president and VP) about one another. For any media to be accountable to a political power of any sort is not our idea of journalistic independence – it is usually the other way round. As for the list of signatories, which points to a concerted action of Ukrainian media managers, please be assured that we are always ready to engage in any meaningful conversation with our colleagues from any media and any country. in an honest, responsible and professional exercise of discussing all aspects of our journalism, in full transparency, especially during these gravest of times for world peace and stability.
“Concerning, because being accused of promoting Kremlin propaganda, delivering false arguments and dubious, manipulated narratives are terrible accusations. Such accusations are extremely disturbing for journalists working in the Euronews newsroom and for our Russian language team in particular.
“As was the case when the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine first wrote to us, we immediately reviewed the allegations listed in your public letter in good faith. The letter says that analysts studied the output of Euronews’ Russian language service for five days in August, resulting in a list of 10 examples of what the letter calls “evidence” of “massive daily media manipulation of the war”.
Euronews answered each of the examples in the response’s appendix.
It continued: “We at Euronews wonder what the analysis revealed from the dozens of other stories and content that we produced non-stop on the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine during the same week – as any analysis of stories or parts of texts taken out of context can prove any point needed, by one side or another, as it is a matter of subjective approach and perception. Our non-stop, complex coverage of the enormous suffering across your country is available for any scrutiny and we believe we have always respected our duty to present the full facts of the Russian atrocities and the overall war”.
“Euronews is an independent media organization producing factual journalism in multiple languages based on our fundamental editorial values of objectivity, balance, accuracy and fairness. Each Euronews journalist strongly believes in our duty of informing our audiences everywhere through these founding editorial values as well as full responsibility for what we publish. Being Europeans, receiving some financing from the European Union – _as you rightly mention – we stand by European values of democracy, freedom of the press and editorial independence from any political or business aspects. Promoting democracy means accepting diversity of views. Euronews cannot take sides or promote one national narrative over another. We cannot censor or silence any relevant, factual positions as our duty is to responsibly and accurately present the full picture of the war – _and the truth, at all times.
“This is why the Russian state decided to shut down Euronews’ Russian language broadcasts on television and digital across the Russian Federation in the early days of the war, and to threaten Euronews’ journalists with prosecution. You can see why we find your statement about Euronews being Vladimir Putin’s zealots very difficult to understand and accept”.
Euronews concluded by saying: “Based on our analysis of the examples you sent us, we at Euronews strongly reject the accusations of waging “massive media manipulations about the war”. In this context, we are troubled by such an open letter invoking the idea of “involving” external parties into appropriate decisions on operational, personnel and strategic issues”.
“We personally believe that the resistance of the Ukrainian people is inspirational and heroic. We believe that Ukraine is also fighting for democracy and freedom in Europe. This is why we know you will understand our position in defending democracy with our factual and diverse journalistic work, everyday. Those who believe in independent journalism and in full-factual coverage can rest assured that Euronews will always be on the right side of history”.