Media ought to publicly apologize for spreading Hilter doll defamation

May 07 2008, 23:24

Halya Coynash

They say that news travels fast. So do lies, unfortunately. The speed with which the “story” of Kyiv's Adolf Hitler doll reached different media outlets has made many people in Ukraine question whether it traveled, or was "transported," so to speak. Be that as it may, other questions also beg our consideration.

We will be asking how a world­renowned information agency decided to rely on a Russian television network reporting about Ukraine.  Used it, we would add, without any reference to its Russian media source and omitting the fact of where Kyiv's Hitler doll was manufactured.

Of no less interest is how a UK newspaper could have quoted as its source, yet seriously distorted, a Ukrainian newspaper article. In fact, general bemusement is difficult to avoid over the fact that not one of these media outlets performed a simple fact check.

Two weeks ago, a short article by Andriy Kapustin appeared in the reputable Ukrainian weekly newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia (Weekly Mirror). Under the deliberately shocking headline, “Undress Hitler or Barbie­Fuhrer as a gift,” Kapustin reported his find of a Hitler doll in a Kyiv shop and his conversation with a rather limited saleswoman. 

He was writing for a Ukrainian audience, which would have cast no doubt on how his readers would interpret the woman’s “No, not expensive, only 1200 hryvnias” remark. Even if these dolls were intended for children (and they were clearly not), their exorbitant price if nothing else would place them out of their reach.

A rush on such dolls would be most improbable for many other reasons though. Kapustin is himself appalled that this Taiwan­made monstrosity is being pawned in Kyiv, a city that lost 60 percent of its residents at the hands of the Nazis, and sold a few kilometers from Babyn Yar, where more than 100,000 victims perished.

He uses his imagination to consider the logical extension of such “toys.” All the thoughts about model toy concentration camps and the like are from his horrified imagination.

Perhaps English speakers, with limited Ukrainian or Russian skills, simply missed the tragic irony of the original article, although it is baffling why they would quote a source they did not fully understand. 

Russia’s close­to­the­Kremlin TV channel ORT and other Russian media outlets had no such difficulties. We would assume it suited their purposes to misrepresent the source. 

The Russian coverage was standard fare. The main point was summarized in an interview with Oles Buzina, a Segodnya newspaper columnist known for his disdain of all things Ukrainian, who “explains” that after the posthumous naming of Roman Shukhevych as Hero of Ukraine, you must expect that each child in Ukraine will have a Hitler doll. Now this, regardless of anybody’s view of Shukhevych, is profoundly offensive.

It is, however, so exceptionally stupid that it would have been better ignored, as are most state­provided “news items” on this largely state­controlled and directed television channel.

Unfortunately, the same story, somewhat trimmed and linguistically mangled, was presented on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The latter went further than the Russian program it used without acknowledgment, since the BBC even failed to mention the dolls were made in Taiwan of all places.

The presenter verbatim repeated the Russian source in speaking of “cases of extreme racism like those seen in Nazi Germany,” then immediately featuring Buzina. Once again, the BBC, which clearly saw no need to investigate any aspect of this story in Ukraine itself, may not have known that ORT had not chosen Buzina in order to get a balanced and objective view.

There is, of course, no problem with asking for an opinion. However, we do not need to explain to the BBC that when an interview is shown to corroborate a vague but serious allegation, an alternative opinion must be offered.

The news stories which appeared the same day in the UK papers, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail, presented Kapustin’s most hideous fantasies (about toy concentration camps) as future business plans of the spurious Ukrainian toy manufacturers purported to have produced the doll.

The newspapers in question ignored my letters and in one case, even failed to post my comment among the shocked and disgusted opinions of their readers.

On the subject of shock and outrage, I would mention one extra point. The next time foreign tourists visit the Russian Federation and come back with KGB badges and uniforms, they might like to think about the many people, myself included, who have very good reason for finding this profoundly offensive.

That is as offensive as any allegation that in a country as devastated by the Nazis as Ukraine, which suffered 5.3 million casualties or one­sixth of its population, toy manufacturers would willingly manufacture such a horror, and parents would buy it.

It is sometimes baffling how much scrutiny Ukraine’s problems with xenophobia get, with no reference to Russia. Perhaps people have decided that Russia’s problems are too large, too geopolitically inconvenient to talk about, or simply not “news” anymore.

We do not refer to problems with xenophobia in Russia in order to downplay ours in Ukraine.

We do feel that Russian semi­official media outlets might profit from spending less time screaming of an alleged epidemic of fascism in Ukraine, and more time trying to address their own scourge at home.

Everybody makes mistakes, including the media. This does not remove the need to correct misinformation. 

In the conditions of freedom of speech, people must be free to express their views openly. They are entitled to expect the media to represent their views accurately and report on all events objectively, without distortion.

After the latest wave of wildly inaccurate information – about Taiwanese Hitler dolls – swept through the media, we pointed out the correct information to English­language media, and asked for the appropriate measures to be taken.

Bias, unwarranted allegations and the lack of an alternative point of view on ORT surprised few. It was however these things that disturbed media consumers accustomed to thinking they could trust the BBC.

The BBC reacted swiftly to criticism by removing the offensive material, however made no apology and clearly does not intend to inform its viewers that the material presented was inaccurate and in breach of the principles of good journalism.

The two UK newspapers involved, the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail, simply ignored our letters. However, notification on May 4 that we were planning to take the matter up with the Press Complaints Commission seems to have been of some concern with at least the Daily Mail, and now both newspapers' articles are not available on their Web sites.

Deutsche Welle, which also repeated the falsehood, either ignores complaints or offers unconvincing explanations as to why it published the material, and why it's not removing it.

The fact that three outlets have removed their false material demonstrates the public can have an influence, and that they themselves recognize they published false information.

Regardless, the damage has been done and the toxic residue remains, as the Internet remains teeming with reprints and copies of those stories, along with expressions of shock and outrage over what is utter fabrication.

The article from the Daily Mail can be found on various sites and even in different languages. In that article, removed under pressure only after almost two weeks, and on the Deutsche Welle Web site, a great deal of lies abound that create a terrible impression of Ukraine.

We strongly urge the BBC, Deutsche Welle, the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph to check out their sources and to consider whether their information is balanced and fair. We can provide them with many examples of stories totally manufactured.

This has happened before and we can fight it in one way only – with the truth.

Victory Day on May 9 is a national Ukrainian holiday, commemorating the defeat of the Nazis. It would be a fitting act of remembrance if we can all work together to ensure that the lies and poison spread in recent days throughout the Internet are removed.

Halya Coynash is a member of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group.

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