Austria’s ORF “regrets” misleading audience by report on Ukraine mobilization effort

Austria's main broadcaster announced this on X (former Twitter), Ukrinform reports.

"Further study and another review conducted by ORF showed that the mentioned footage from Ukraine does not correspond to the content reported by Zeit im Bild on August 16, which ORF deeply regrets," the message reads.

It was stated that the errors made should be highlighted and fixed. "ORF will do this to Zeit im Bild and, of course, correct the report with footage from Ukraine," the broadcaster added.

At the same time, earlier on Thursday, in its reaction to criticism regarding the use of unverified videos about the ongoing mobilization in Ukraine, ORF did not admit the error, rejecting any accusations of spreading Russian propaganda.

As the Der Standard reported, Austria’s public broadcaster stated that the footage used in the report on the allegedly forced mobilization in Ukraine "were obtained by ORF from a reliable and trustworthy source." Also, ORF initially noted that "additional research has so far left no doubt about the authenticity of the images or content."

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Austria’s public broadcaster ORF aired in their Zeit im Bild show a story filmed by their correspondent in Ukraine, Christian Wershütz, which covered corruption and problems with military draft. The correspondent used two videos he said he had obtained from Ukrainian sources, allegedly proving that "not all men are ready to fight for their country." The short clips showed what was claimed to be the arrest of conscripts by the military from the draft office.

Meanwhile, both clips, as Ukrinform wrote, have nothing to do with the ongoing mobilization campaign. One showed an incident at the border, where a student was indignant because of the ban on crossing out of the country and refused to leave the border guards office and the border checkpoint, which led to him being detained. Another video showed the arrest of a Russian intelligence asset in Odesa by the operatives from the Security Service.