Russia Today reporter resigns over MH17 coverage
A British reporter has resigned from her post with Russia Today (RT) over its MH17 coverage.
Sara Firth announced on Twitter that she was quitting her post as London correspondent with the Russian news channel on July 18.
Despite most media outlets suggesting that pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine had caused the tragedy, RT has tried to blame Ukraine for bringing down the Malaysia Airlines flight, which was shot down over Ukrainian air space by a surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people on board.
Final straw
Firth, who has been at working with RT for five years, felt that the channel's handling of the incident was "the straw that broke the camel's back".
She told the Guardian: "It was the most shockingly obvious misinformation and it got to the point where I couldn’t defend it any more.
"When this story broke that was the moment I knew I had to go. I walked into the newsroom and there was an eyewitness account making allegations (against Ukraine) and analysis, if you can call it, from our correspondent in the studio.
"It was just appalling, in a situation like that where there are families waiting to be informed and a devastating loss of life.
"I have always fought against this argument that RT is an evil network but you wake up and think, that's just wrong.
"It was not an easy decision, I started my career at RT, and I respect many of the team there. In the end it got to the point where I couldn’t defend it and I didn’t believe there was something to defend. A story like this really highlights it."
Shortly after tweeting about her resignation, Firth made another scathing post about RT.
You can watch a CNN interview with Firth here.
RT replies
Meanwhile, a statement posted on Buzzfeed from RT head of communications Anna Belkina read: "Sara has declared that she chooses the truth; apparently we have different definitions of truth.
"We believe that truth is what our reporters see on the ground, with their own eyes, and not what’s printed in the morning London newspaper.
"In our coverage, RT, unlike the rest of the media, did not draw conclusions before the official investigation has even begun. We show all sides of the story, even if everyone else has already decided which side is to blame."
Sources: The Guardian, Buzzfeed, CNN, Twitter
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