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Iran suspends accreditation for Reuters in Tehran

Eleven Reuters staffers told to hand back press cards following article claiming 'thousands of female Ninjas train as Iran’s assassins'

The Iranian government has suspended the press accreditation for Reuters staff in Tehran after the publication of a video story on women’s martial arts training which contained an error.

 

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Reuters, the news arm of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information group, corrected the story after the martial arts club where the video was filmed made a complaint.

  

 

The story’s headline, “Thousands of female Ninjas train as Iran’s assassins,” was corrected to read “Three thousand women Ninjas train in Iran.”

 

Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance subsequently contacted the Reuters Tehran bureau chief about the video and its publication, as a result of which Reuters’ 11 personnel were told to hand back their press cards.

 

“We acknowledge this error occurred and regard it as a very serious matter. It was promptly corrected the same day it came to our attention,” said editor-in-chief Stephen J. Adler.

 


"סכנה קטלנית"? בסך הכול רוצות לשמור על כושר

 

“In addition, we have conducted an internal review and have taken appropriate steps to prevent a recurrence,” he said.

 

Adler said that Reuters was in discussions with Iranian authorities in an effort to restore the accreditation.

 

“Reuters always strives for the highest standards in journalism and our policy is to acknowledge errors honestly and correct them promptly when they occur,” he added.

 

On Wednesday Iran's state television reported that the female ninjas sued Reuters for defamation, claiming the news agency depicted them as assassins being trained to "kill any possible foreign invaders."

 

The women claimed that a Reuters journalist asked them what they would do if their country came under attack and took advantage of their patriotic response to call them assassins.

 

"The lady from Reuters asked me only one question which had a very obvious answer. I believe that anyone anywhere in the world would defend his country if it were attacked…but she twisted our words to make us look bad and described us as assassins in the headline of her story," Khatereh Jalilzadeh, one of the ninjas, told Press TV.

 

"We are taking legal action because the ladies that train in Ninjutsu first and foremost enjoy it as a sport. It’s about working out and staying fit. Reuters has blatantly lied about us," she added.

 

Another female ninja said the Reuters’ report can definitely be a problem.

 

"It can harm our chances to travel to other countries to take part in global tournaments and international championships because Reuters is considered by many to be a reliable source," Raheleh Davoudzadeh said.

 

"At this point, there is not much they can do to undo the damage… That is why we are taking legal action… We want the whole world to know that Reuters has lied about us," she added.

 

 

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פרסום ראשון: 03.29.12, 22:24
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