Reuters fears terrorists - so won't call them "terrorists"

Reuters Asks a Chain to Remove Its Bylines
By IAN AUSTEN The New York Times September 20, 2004
www.nytimes.com/2004/09/20/business/media/20reuters.html

Having their bylines appear in newspapers is an unexpected bonus for news
agency reporters. But now Reuters has asked Canada's largest newspaper chain
to remove its writers' names from some articles.

The dispute centers on a policy adopted earlier this year by CanWest Global
Communications - the publisher of 13 daily newspapers including The National
Post in Toronto and The Calgary Herald, which both use Reuters dispatches -
to substitute the word "terrorist" in articles for terms like "insurgents"
and "rebels."

"Our editorial policy is that we don't use emotive words when labeling
someone," said David A. Schlesinger, Reuters' global managing editor. "Any
paper can change copy and do whatever they want. But if a paper wants to
change our copy that way, we would be more comfortable if they remove the
byline."

Mr. Schlesinger said he was concerned that changes like those made at
CanWest could lead to "confusion" about what Reuters is reporting and
possibly endanger its reporters in volatile areas or situations.

"My goal is to protect our reporters and protect our editorial integrity,"
he said.

According to Mr. Schlesinger, members of Reuters' sales staff in Canada have
asked CanWest to remove writers' names to conform to its guidelines for the
use of "terrorist." Reuters has also asked that CanWest add its name to that
of Reuters as the source of revised articles and to display that information
only at the end of the articles. Alternatively, Reuters suggests that its
name not be used at all.

Scott Anderson, editor in chief of CanWest publications and an author of the
policy, said Reuters' rejection of his company's definition of terrorism
undermined journalistic principles.

"If you're couching language to protect people, are you telling the truth?"
asked Mr. Anderson, who is also editor in chief of The Ottawa Citizen. "I
understand their motives. But issues like this are why newspapers have
editors."

Mr. Anderson said the central definition in the policy was that "terrorism
is the deliberate targeting of civilians in pursuit of a political goal."

The policy has caused Mr. Anderson's paper to issue two corrections recently
as the result of changes it made to articles provided by The Associated
Press. On Thursday, The Citizen changed an A.P. dispatch to describe 6 of 10
Palestinians killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops as "terrorists," a
description attributed to "Palestinian medical officials." The Associated
Press had called those people "fugitives."

The Citizen published a correction on Friday declaring it to be it an
editing error and describing the six dead as "militants." A week earlier,
the newspaper inserted the word terrorist seven times into an A.P. article
about the fighting between Iraqis and United States forces in the city of
Falluja. Mr. Anderson called the two episodes "silly errors."

Late Friday, a spokesman for The Associated Press, Jack Stokes, issued a
general statement about changes to its articles. "We understand that
customers need to edit our stories from time to time," it said in part.
"However, we do not endorse changes that make an A.P. story unbalanced,
unfair or inaccurate."

Mr. Anderson said he did not know how CanWest would deal with the Reuters
request. No one else at CanWest, The National Post or The Calgary Herald was
available for comment.

In an editorial published on Saturday, however, The National Post said it
would continue to follow its current policy.
"Mr. Schlesinger's broader implication - that the substantive meaning of his
reporters' stories are being universally vitiated by our house style - is
one we reject," it said. "The agency's use of euphemisms merely serves to
apply a misleading gloss of political correctness. And we believe we owe it
to our readers to remove it before they see their newspaper every morning."