We call on Voice of America to immediately terminate the employment of Harry Knyagnytskyi, a known Russian propagandist — Statement

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The MediaRukh Movement is calling on Voice of America's management to dismiss Harry Knyagnytskyi from its Russian service. Knyagnytskyi is a former employee of the Russian government-sponsored NTV TV channel and has been identified as a Russian propagandist. It's worth noting that the media outlet is currently under European Union sanctions due to its "continuous and concerted actions of disinformation and military propaganda, legitimizing Russian aggression."

During his employment at NTV, Harry Knyagnytskyi actively engaged in propaganda, producing stories about the Russian-Ukrainian war. For example, in a piece titled Genocide and Destruction: Donbas Residents Terrified of the Actions of the Ukrainian Army, he portrayed the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a negative light and depicted the Donbas residents as being horrified by their actions. The story concluded with a quote from Knyagnytskyi about evacuated children: "Children are happy, thinking that the war is over. But the National Guard is already on the outskirts of Donetsk." It's worth noting that the alleged protection of "Donbas residents" is one of the justifications that Russian President Vladimir Putin used for his full-scale aggression against Ukraine.

In his stories, Knyagnytskyi consistently accuses Ukraine of killing its own citizens (examples can be found here, here, and here) but fails to acknowledge that it was Russia that initiated the war by attacking its neighboring state and that Ukraine is defending itself. It's worth noting that the European Court of Human Rights recently recognized Russia's occupation of part of Donbas in 2014. However, in Knyagnytskyi's stories, the roles are reversed: Ukraine is depicted as "capturing" its own cities, the "Donbas self-defense" is portrayed as defending itself, and Russia is shown delivering humanitarian aid. In one particular story, Knyagnytskyi even suggests that Russian militants had no choice but to attack a Ukrainian tank to prevent it from allegedly destroying a residential neighborhood.

During his tenure at NTV, Knyagnytskyi appeared to have promoted all of Russia's propaganda narratives. His stories justified the abduction of Ukrainian children, legitimized the annexation of Crimea, and portrayed the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity as a coup d'etat.

Although Knyagnytskyi left NTV in 2017, his views did not change. When he started working at the American service of RTVI, he continued to espouse his earlier views, speculating that Ukraine had provoked Russia into attacking and seizing Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait.

It's possible that Voice of America, which is part of American international broadcasting, may be interested in what its new employee wrote about protests against police brutality towards Black people in the United States in 2021. He was quoted as saying: "Where there are black people, there is crime. That's what the Russians who moved out of South and East Harlem say. A year ago, it was calm there, but after Floyd's death and the subsequent protests, it became dangerous. But today, it is politically incorrect to connect this with African Americans."

We would like to remind Voice of America that its mission is to act as an authoritative source of news. However, this cannot be achieved as long as Russian propagandists are allowed to work in the newsroom. Authors who write about Russian aggression having contributed to it themselves in the recent past.

Additionally, as the second point of the editorial mission is to represent the United States, it's worth considering whether it's appropriate for a former propagandist to represent America's voice.

In light of these concerns, Mediarukh is calling on Voice of America to immediately dismiss Harry Knyazhnytsky and conduct a thorough internal investigation into how he was hired in the first place. The results of such an investigation should also be made public.

For reference: Mediarukh (Media Movement) is a community that brings together journalists from leading Ukrainian media, investigative journalists, and experts from media NGOs. The Mediarukh “Media Za Usvidomlenyi Vybir” (the Media Movement “Media For Conscious Choice”) was launched on February 5, 2019, with UA:Pershyi, Ukrainian Radio, Hromadske Radio, Ukrinform news agency, Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Liga.net, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia. Ukraine, NV, Censor.net, Channel 5, The Ukrainian Week, Opinion, a number of regional media, and various NGOs, such as the Independent Media Council, Detector Media, Institute of Mass Information, Internews Ukraine, Center for Democracy and Rule of Law, Souspilnist Foundation, National Association of Media, Donetsk Institute of Information, Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, and Human Rights Centre Zmina, as initial signatories.

Later, more than 70 additional organizations and individual journalists joined the Media Movement. On November 16, 2021, representatives from leading media outlets called on journalists to unite in a professional community to resist political and commercial pressure on freedom of speech. This statement was initiated by 29 journalists and experts, whose names are provided here. Currently, the merger of the two initiatives is underway, and the full list of members of the renewed organization will be made public as soon as the Media Movement is formalized.