In March 2015, Zvezda offered a presenting job to Jeremy Clarkson less than 24 hours after he was dismissed by the BBC from motoring programme Top Gear.

It has published several controversial news articles, for example:[6][7] In 2014–15, Zvezda employed Graham Phillips, a British journalist accused of promoting the Russian narrative in the war in Donbas and who was banned from Ukraine for his work.

[10] StopFake reported that Phillips was awarded a medal by Russia's Border Guard, a branch of the FSB, a Russian intelligence agency.

[11] In March 2023, the channel reportedly cut a clip, posted on Telegram, in which defence minister Sergei Shoigu did not respond to a question from a Zvezda journalist regarding the peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[12] Zvezda was sanctioned by the Ukrainian government on 21 May 2021, with an official report referring to the channel as producing "news content in accordance with Kremlin policy to justify Russia's actions".