Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Can Reuters' writers reform? Can a leopard change its spots?

At the end of a long article on Reuter's anti-Israeli bias, Tom Gross notes:
"Lately, with a new Jerusalem bureau chief, Reuters has taken some steps to ensure greater balance. For example, it no longer claims Hamas’s goal is merely “to set up an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza” (which it is not), but instead writes that Hamas is “sworn to Israel’s destruction” (which it is).
"Reuters no longer carries the highly misleading “death tolls” at the end of each story that lumped together Palestinian civilians, gunmen, and suicide bombers. (Agence France-Presse continues to do this.) And, apparently, there are plans to relocate Wafa Amr [the 'Senior Palestinian Correspondent' who is a family friend of Arafat's and who boasts close ties to the PA] by next year."
Credit where credit's due; good on Reuters for taking a (baby) step in the right direction. I'd like to know where exactly they're thinking of relocating Amr, though. To the BBC, perchance?

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