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Russian oppositionist Navalny called Voice of America interview 100% fake
Below is an image of Alexei Navalny’s Tweets in Russian on Feb. 1. Alexei Navalny is a Russian opposition figure. An article in Wikipedia describes him as “a Russian lawyer who in recent years has gained prominence amongst Russian bloggers and mass media due to his social campaigning activity. He uses his popular LiveJournal blog to organize serial large-scale petitionings by Russian citizens addressing issues mainly related to heavy corruption in Russia in accordance with Russian laws which appear to be widely ignored by top Russian officials and state-controlled businesses.”
Alexei Navalny’s Tweets pictured below refer to an alleged interview with him published on the Voice of America (VOA) Russian website on January 31. The VOA Russian Service subsequently withdrew the interview and in a new post apologized to Navalny and the visitors to its website for publishing an apparently fake interview.
The first of Navalny’s Tweets says:
”Voice of America went completely nuts. They published a massive fake ‘interview with Navalny.’ Fake 100%.”
The second Tweet from Navalny says:
”Absolutely I did not give an interview to the Voice of America. Call someone in Washington and tell them to let them all go.”
Russian oppositionist Navalny says Voice of America interview with him is 100 percent fake.
The image below is from the Voice of America Russian website. The title of the report is: “Interview that wasn’t.” It includes an apology to Navalny for publishing an apparently fake interview. Интервью, которого не было Редакция Русской службы «Голоса Америки» приносит извинения Алексею Навальному
The Voice of America main website in English has not reported anything about this story.
Some members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), who have the ultimate responsibility for the Voice of America, apparently found out about this incident by reading about it on February 3 on the BBG Watch website. It appears that managers at the Voice of America and the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), whose director Richard Lobo has managerial control, did not inform BBG members about the problem. It is not clear whether Director Lobo was informed about the controversy.
Voice of America Russian website apology to Russian oppositionist Navalny for publishing an apparently fake VOA interview with him.
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There is no question this was a huge editorial lapse for VOA, but it’s not the first time a broadcaster has been had. I’d like some reporting from BBG Watch – especially since BBG won’t offer it – on exactly how this happened. It appears a reporter was duped into believing he or she was speaking with Nalvany via email but in fact was not.
While still inexcusable, it’s not as bad as a reporter dreaming up the interview on his own, which one might surmise from your reporting as it lacks more detailed coverage. Let’s see a translation of the Russian story.
What checks is VOA leadership going to place in the editorial process? Is anyone going to be disciplined or removed?
And please, a modicum of objectivity from BBG Watch: you insinuate Director Lobo purposefully withheld information about the fake story and in your very next sentence say “it’s not clear” if he knew about it himself. You’re reporting will be better served if the swipes and jabs you take against BBG are each based on statements of fact rather than puffery and inflammatory hot air.
Thank you Shortwave Woman. One of our sources reported that the so-called “interview” was done through an exchange of emails.
We hope to have the text of the alleged interview soon.
BBG Watch sent an email to VOA Central Newsroom asking why the VOA English news website was not reporting on the story. We have not received a response. We were told that an email went out to Newsroom staff that no one should respond directly to BBG Watch without first checking with upper management and External Relations.
BBG Watch was not implying that IBB Director Richard Lobo was not passing on this information. We pointed out that he is in charge of managers who should have informed him and BBG members. We know from our sources that some BBG members learned about the incident by reading BBG Watch stories. We don’t know whether Lobo was even informed about the whole scandal — a potential problem of management or lack thereof.
Thanks for your reply. I will continue reading your site to learn about the place I work. Wouldn’t it be nice if transparency didn’t have to come from the outside? I doubt I would have known about this editorial mishap without your site, and I work here!
[...] Alexei Navalny but had to remove it and apologize after Navalny said that the interview was “100 percent fake.” Navalny, who is viewed as an enemy by the Kremlin and has been a target of disinformation [...]