State-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti launched an online quiz Friday about Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, exactly a year after the plane was downed over war-torn eastern Ukraine, but deleted it the same day after being swamped with comments about its insensitivity, the Lenta.ru news website reported.
The quiz consisted of 15 questions including when the incident occurred, what the flight number was and how many passengers were on board, Lenta reported. Participants also had to guess who was behind several quotes about the tragedy.
Correct answers were rewarded with a picture of burnt fragments of the plane popping up with the caption: “Congratulations! Your answer is correct,” the report said.
By noon on Friday, the quiz was heading the list of media materials most popular in social networks, according to the Mediametrics news rating service, and was eliciting outrage among Internet users and bloggers who accused the agency of being insensitive over the tragedy, in which 298 people were killed, Lenta reported.
Shortly after the quiz was deleted from the website, the management of the Rossiya Segodnya media holding that owns RIA Novosti publicly apologized, characterizing the quiz as an “obvious stupidity and unprecedented absurdity,” Lenta reported. The holding said the editors responsible had been suspended pending an investigation.
Flight MH17 — a passenger jet flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur — crashed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all on board, after apparently being shot down by a missile. Pro-Russian separatists fighting Ukrainian troops in the region have each accused the other of being behind the tragedy. An investigation is ongoing.
Last year the opposition-leaning TV channel Dozhd was widely criticized for publishing a poll asking readers whether they thought the Soviet Union should have surrendered the city of Leningrad to Nazi Germany in order to prevent the siege that followed, possibly saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
An investigation was launched by the prosecutor's office in St. Petersburg into that incident, and local parliamentary deputies called on Russia's Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to “punish” Dozhd by shutting it down. The channel was later ordered to pay a fine of 200,000 rubles ($3,500) to two Petersburg pensioners who had sued Dozhd over the poll.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.