An RNZ web journalist who allegedly inserted Russian propoganda into news stories claims he has edited reports in that way for five years and nobody has ever queried it.
The public broadcaster says it launched a review after it found out on Friday that stories were being altered to give them a pro Russia slant.
That's despite concerns being raised about the journalist's work more than a year ago, the journalist has now been placed on leave. So far, 250 stories have been reviewed and 16 have had to be corrected.
RNZ management has said the broadcaster's process for publishing stories from other media companies has not been strong enough, and there will be an external review of editoral processes.
"I subbed several stories that way over the past number of years," the journalist told Checkpoint.
"In fact since I started RNZ and… I have done that for five years and nobody has tapped me on the shoulder and told me that I was doing anything wrong."
RNZ chief executive and editor in chief Paul Thompson has described the altered copy as "pro-Kremlin garbage".
Mr Thompson told Checkpoint an employment process is ongoing with the staff member.
Mr Thompson said he has not offered his resignation over the matter, or anyone else in management.
He said now is the time to be working together to fix the problem, and he is confident the problem is limited to the one area of pro-Kremlin misinformation in wire copy.
The audit of stories on the RNZ website is continuing. At least 250 have been checked so far.
Mr Thompson also confirmed the ongoing audit of stories is being done by senior staff, members of the web team and news team. He said they are the right people for the job as they know how the system works. He is confident the process is robust.
Mr Thompson said he has not made any decisions yet on changing the editorial structure of RNZ as a result.
"I think that will be something I will be reflecting on and I'll be looking to do anything which can make a positive difference because we need to get to the bottom of this and we need to improve things."
