Ukrainians in New Zealand criticize Newsroom NZ for legitimizing Russia

The Ukrainian community in New Zealand, “Mahi for Ukraine,” has criticized Newsroom NZ over an article about a New Zealand couple who traveled to Russia for medical surgery. 

The organization says that publishing the story during Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine effectively legitimizes the aggressor state.

“This is not a neutral human-interest story. It is a textbook example of how russia uses foreign visitors from sanctioning countries to demonstrate that sanctions “don’t work”, promote medical tourism as an export industry, and rehabilitate its international image while continuing a war,” Mahi for Ukraine said in a statement.

The community expressed particular concern that the ethical implications of traveling to an aggressor state were largely sidelined in the coverage.

“Money spent in russia today supports an economy that funds missiles, occupation, deportations, and repression. Framing such travel as a consumer healthcare choice, without confronting that reality, normalises behaviour we would never accept in relation to other aggressor states,” the statement reads.

Russia is highly skilled in information warfare tactics, which makes it especially important for media outlets to exercise caution, the statement said. 

“When individual stories are actively used by an authoritarian state for propaganda purposes, that fact must be front and centre — not an afterthought,” the organization concluded, urging Newsroom NZ’s editors to adhere to higher ethical standards.