Canadians, renew your National Post subscriptions

It's not every day I get to thank a Palestinian propaganda machine for a great story. However, the Palestinian Information Center is carrying a report that Reuters is going to complain to CanWest, the company that owns Canada's National Post and is still the front-runner to buy The Jerusalem Post, because it's been 'inappropriately' inserting the words 'terror' and 'terrorism' into wire stories about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iraq war, 'thereby changing their meaning.'
CBC News reports:

In one Reuters story, the original copy reads: "… the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which has been involved in a four-year-old revolt against Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank."
In the National Post version, printed Tuesday, it became: "… the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a terrorist group that has been involved in a four-year-old campaign of violence against Israel."
The global managing editor for Reuters, David Schlesinger, called the changes unacceptable. He said that CanWest crossed a line from editing for style, to editing the substance and slant of news from the Middle East.
"If they want to put their own judgment into it, they're free to do that, but then they shouldn't say that it's by a Reuters reporter," said Schlesinger.

Because G-d forbid anyone should think Reuters actually dares call a spade a spade. The truth is, of course, that editors mess with wire copy the whole time, adding, deleting, cutting and pasting, and yes, changing terminology. If Reuters objects that strongly to this particular edit, perhaps CanWest should start using another wire service; seeing as CanWest is Canada's largest newspaper chain, it will be interesting to see how far Reuters is willing to dig in its heels.

UPDATE: MOTNews notes that in the New York Times report on this subject, Schlesinger says 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." In other words, he is acknowledging that Reuters' policy of avoiding the word 'terrorist' stems partially from a perceived threat to its reporters -- and not from considerations of truth and honest reporting.