Author: Vojtěch Berger, HlidaciPes.org
Until March, the Czech TV station CNN Prima News used a contributor of the Russian state-run RIA Novosti for live interviews on U.S. topics. The agency has long been spreading Kremlin propaganda and is on the European Union’s sanctions list. The contributor Lenka White, also a Sputnik correspondent, was last on the air in early March. CNN Prima News claims it was unaware of her ties to the Russian media outlets and would not continue working with her.
When CNN Prima News launched in 2020, it supposed to have an advantage compared to other Czech news broadcasters – the exclusive access to the content of the American CNN.
Over time, however, mainly because of the composition of its guests, it has repeatedly faced accusations of being “pro-Russian”, which it has always vehemently denied. For example, after the journalist Tomas Etzler declared CNN Prima News a “pro-Kremlin cesspit”.
However, the case of Lenka White, who, as a Czech living in the US, has repeatedly joined CNN Prima News broadcasts in recent months as a (now former) “contributor”, poses a serious reputational problem for the broadcaster.
Lenka White is also an associate of the Russian state agency RIA Novosti. And there is no doubt about the agency to be spreading Kremlin propaganda.
Between Kremlin and Trump’s youth
“The foreign editorial office of CNN Prima NEWS began working with Lenka White as a Czech living in the USA under the previous company management, in 2020 – since then she has been on the list of contacts in the USA,” says Gabriela Semová, a spokeswoman for the Prima TV group.
According to her, White was used for commentaries on current events, mainly related to reporting on natural disasters or lifestyle topics. It was always an unpaid collaboration and Lenka White was never part of the editorial team.
However, since the election of Donald Trump as US President, Lenka White has also been given the opportunity to report on political issues. From her comments, her affection for Trump was clearly visible and undisguised.
There is a reason for this – White is a sympathiser and according to her social networks also a member of the New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC), an ultra-conservative association of young Republicans supporting Trump.
The NYYRC has long attracted fans of the far right. The Club’s president Gavin Wax, for example, spoke in 2022 of an “all-out war” that needed to be waged “in every arena, in the media, in the courts, at the polls – and in the streets.”
„Balancing the views in public space“
From a Czech perspective, the NYYRC is also interesting as a Republican platform for networking with “patriotic” or far-right parties from Europe.
Most recently, last year, for example, MEP Ondřej Knotek of the Czech ANO movement appeared directly at the organisation’s headquarters in New York as part of a delegation of the European Parliament group Patriots for Europe that went to support Trump before the election.
CNN Prima News did not see any problem in calling Lenka White a “contributor” in the live programme, while she was actively supporting the Trump camp and was obviously biased. In fact, for most viewers, the term „contributor“ means practically the same as a reporter, that should be unbiased and objective.
“As a supporter of Donald Trump in the US presidential election, she had a total of four interviews on US elections and politics from November 2024 to the end of February 2025, because the public space in the country (Czech Republic) was mainly represented by views supporting the Democrats,” says Prima spokeswoman Semová.
“The fact that she is a supporter of Donald Trump is obvious from her statements at first glance, as is the case with other commentators who were and are critics of Donald Trump and are invited on air daily. We have never explicitly stated this for either party,” she added.
“Where is Zelensky’s suit?”
Lenka White’s live comments mixed the Kremlin propaganda arguments with those of the Trump administration. The following two excerpts from interviews with the moderator illustrate this well.
Live interview from January 29th: “Ukraine is a real pain in the neck for, I have to say, most Americans right now, especially, of course, again, Republicans, but they really don’t want to see a single dollar actually go to Ukraine anymore. They don’t see the point of it, because according to local reports, the Ukrainians can’t actually win the war, and Zelensky is not actually behaving well. Every time he arrives, he puts on his tracksuit. Since he always asks for a few billion dollars, people just don’t see it positively.”
Or a live entry from February 28th: “It’s 350 billion, according to President Trump, that’s been sent to Ukraine. And the result is not there. Today, in fact, on one of the American TV stations, they showed that Russia now occupies about 20, 30% of the territory. So really people are asking where did it all go. For example, we have had all sorts of actually accidents or natural disasters here and people have got about 5,000 per capita. And here Ukraine gets 350 billion, and at the same time, Zelensky cannot even buy a decent suit. For which he was criticised today, so people really don’t like it and I think that most people are glad that it has turned out this way and that this will actually put an end to it.”
Until March 2025, Lenka White was mentioning her cooperation with RIA Novosti on her social networks. When HlídacíPes.org published a story about her, these mentions disappeared. In 2023, a Russian diplomat interviewed by her called her a correspondent for Sputnik – another Russian state media. She is also listed as a Sputnik correspondent by the Association of Correspondents to the United Nations in New York.
“The editorial office did not know about the cooperation you mentioned, it is contrary to editorial principles and therefore will not continue,” Prima TV spokeswoman Gabriela Semová said to HlídacíPes.org.
