DISINFO: Sputnik delivers high quality journalism, unlike other media
SUMMARY
Our goal is neither to divide France nor to create a climate of hatred. It is to reveal what others do not cover.This is what can explain the increase in the number of our readers, and by no means a biased line seeking to harm the French government. If some media feel aggrieved, this is only due to their partisan editorial line, distant from our own, which is factual.
RESPONSE
The most notorious report Sputnik published was in 2017, about "gay lobby" behind Emmanuel Macron, then candidate to the French presidency, without providing any evidence. According to the same Sputnik report, "ex-French Economy Minister Macron could be "US Agent' lobbying Banks' Interest". No evidence was given. For background see our reporting on the Sputnik coverage in 2017.
Sputnik also reported that the Russian name found in metadata of the hacked e-mails of Emmanuel Macron "does not prove the source". The investigations by The Insider and Mediapart.Fr discovered that behind those attacks was the same GRU unit later incriminated in the US for the similar actions against Democratic party.
After being accused by Emmanuel Macron in 2017 of spreading fakes, Sputnik reacted by saying this was defamation and Sputnik's and Russia Today's (RT) editor in chief Margarita Simonyan promised to "take legal actions" in the name of both RT and Sputnik. No legal action has followed so far.
Last year, the French broadcasting regulator, the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA), issued a warning to RT over a falsified report contesting the use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians.