The show “Ukraine’s War: The Other Side,” which humanizes the Russian army and airs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners channel, was dubbed a “bowl of vomit” by the Ukrainian Embassy in Australia.
On March 19, the Embassy published a statement on Facebook.
“The show debuted on Four Corners last night.” “The Other Side of Ukraine’s War” was the journalistic equivalent of a bowl of puke. It disingenuously broadcast and repeated innumerable flagrant falsehoods, historical revisionisms, racial assertions, and Kremlin propaganda stories. Putin, the autocrat of Russia, benefited greatly from it, according to the Embassy.It should be noted that the show minimized and denigrated the deaths of Ukrainians slain by Russian military during an unlawful and violent invasion. This invasion was “strongly condemned by Australia and the majority of countries through the UNGA resolution in March 2022,” the Embassy notes.
“The Australian Broadcasting Corporation should be ashamed that it put such total garbage to air,” the statement continues.
The Managing Director of the ABC, the Executive Producer of Four Corners, and the Minister for Communications will be contacted by the Embassy to discuss the steps involved in this pro-Putin and pro-violence propaganda item being broadcast by Australia’s national broadcaster. In his words, the Ambassador will “share with them the facts that the program totally disregarded.”Two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the ABC announced on March 18 that they will be providing “a rare insight from the other side” in their Four Corners program “Ukraine’s War: The Other Side.”
“The ground-breaking documentary by filmmaker Sean Langan provides a human perspective on life on the Russian frontlines. He delves into the experiences of being a Russian soldier who puts their life in danger and a Russian civilian who lives under constant threat of bombardment. According to the release, “It’s phenomenal access and a gripping investigation of a conflict that has killed or injured an estimated 500,000 soldiers on both sides—and one that refuses to subside.”
A Russian soldier is heard saying, “We’re not monsters, we’re humans, and we’re protecting our Motherland,” in the teaser.
The video team from France 24 went to a Russian occupation force’s training camp in April 2023. The Russian forces are engaged in an aggressive conflict against Ukraine. The journalist in the documentary referred to the counteroffensive by Ukraine as “the enemy’s counteroffensive,” while the Russian soldiers boasted about the superiority of their weapons over Western ones. After receiving criticism, the report was removed by France 24. The journalist who referred to Ukraine’s counteroffensive as “the enemy’s counteroffensive” in a report funded by the government, France24, acknowledged that the statement was a “unfortunate mistake.”
The French television network TF1 carried a story in June 2023 concerning the Russian Kadyrovites who were moved to “guard” Russia’s border in the Belgorod region from “enemy invasions.”German broadcaster ZDF’s Armin Körper, a journalist who oversees the channel’s Moscow office, filmed a story in February 2024 that presented an inaccurate image of life in Russian-occupied Mariupol.
