Ethical Sensitivity in Reuters

Thomson Reuters (Reuters) was formed in 2008 when the Thomson Corporation and
Reuters Group PLC combined to create the world's largest international multimedia news
agency, providing world news, business news, technology news, headline news on
Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms.
Reuters employs over 2,700 journalists in 200 bureaus globally including approximately 70
journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Elsewhere in the Middle East, there are
Reuters news bureaus in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi
Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Turkey.
As a news agency (wire service), Reuters sells its content to hundreds of other media
companies around the world including newspapers, magazines, radio, and television
broadcasters. Reuters text newswires provide coverage of regional, national and
international events in 20 languages, covering all areas of news and human-interest stories.
In July 2011, the Reuters.com website drew an average of more than 46 million visitors
permonth.
Reuters maintains a corporate governance charter known as the Trust Principles, discussed
in detail in its annual report and on its website:
Thomson Reuters is dedicated to upholding the Trust Principles and to preserving its
independence, integrity and freedom from bias in the gathering and dissemination of
information and news.

Reuters Handbook of Journalism:

"The 10 Absolutes of Reuters Journalism"

* Always hold accuracy sacrosanct

* Always correct an error openly
* Always strive for balance and freedom from bias
* Always reveal a conflict of interest to a manager
* Always respect privileged information
* Always protect their sources from the authorities
* Always guard against putting their opinion in a news story

* Never fabricate or plagiarise

* Never alter a still or moving image beyond the requirements of normal image
enhancement
* Never pay for a story and never accept a bribe
Reuters Trust Principles:

"Thomson Reuters is dedicated to uphold the Trust Principles and to preserving its
independence, integrity and freedom from bias in the gathering and dissemination of
information and news."
In recent years, there have been documented claims by various media watchdogs
suggesting that Reuters reporting of the Arab-Israeli conflict is systematically biased,
regularly violates the Reuters Trust Principles as well as guidelines set out in the Reuters
Handbook of Journalism and employs propaganda techniques to promote an Arab narrative
and political interests in the conflict. On July 26, 2003 for example, the internet website Little
Green Footballs noted a Reuters story which suggested, falsely, that Israel had failed to
honor its treaty commitments to the Palestinian Arabs.
There have also been reports of Reuters publishing doctored photographs on its website and
supplying these to other media firms. During the war between Israel and the Lebanese
militia group Hezbollah in 2006 for example, Reuters was compelled to withdraw a photo of
smoke rising from buildings in Beirut, purportedly caused by Israeli bombing, after a number
of photographers and bloggers (web loggers) noted that the images appeared to have been
artificially altered to include additional smoke and damage. Reuters subsequently
acknowledged that photo editing software was improperly used and terminated its ties
with the contributing photographer.
Reuters Fauxtography Faux Pas

Original photo of Gaza flotilla passenger

with knife and pool of blood next to injured
Israeli marines (as composed by Turkish
IHH photographer)

Cropped version of same photo (as

published by Reuters)

This Reuters photograph shows blatant evidence of manipulation. Notice the repeating
patterns in the smoke; this is almost certainly caused by using the Photoshop "clone" tool to
add more smoke to the image -- Little Green Footballs
While Reuters has occasionally acknowledged factual errors of an unsystematic nature in its
stories, the media firm has never publicly admitted to a policy of bias or advocacy on behalf
of any of its story subjects. Indeed, such conscious bias or willful advocacy would be a clear
contravention of the Reuters code of ethics and governing charter, the Trust Principles.
Although Reuters is not a recognized belligerent in the Middle East conflict, the agencys use
of (one-sizits readership to take direct action to support one of the belligerents, the
Arabs/Palestinians, in response to stories of inhuman acts allegedly perpetrated by the
Israelis. This is akin to the purpose, content, and success of atrocity propaganda circulated
by both the Allies and Germany during the First World War (Jowett and ODonnell, 1999).
Indeed, upon reading the news articles about the Middle East coverage of Reuters, I had
developed some kind of sympathy towards the Palestinians and somehow hatred to Israelis.
Obviously, this is for the reason that most of the news especially the headlines in Reuters
already portrays a bad image of Israel. Its as if they are the one to be blame with all the
turmoil in the Middle East and that they are the one who inflict harms on Palestinians. In a
nutshell, Reuters reports about the Arab-Israeli conflict showed Bias judgment against the
latter. This reflects a fundamental failure to uphold the Reuters corporate governance
charter and ethical guiding principles.

REUTERS news articles about the Arab-Israeli conflict

Arab visits to al-Aqsa mosque not forbidden - Abbas

Apr 25, 2012 11:06am EDT
* Israel controls access to Islam's 3rd holiest site

* Palestinian leader says that is no reason not to visit

* VIP visits by Jordan, Egypt angered some Islamic scholars
By Noah Browning
JERUSALEM, April 25 (Reuters) - High-level Arab visits to Jerusalem to pray privately at the
third holiest site in Islam should not be seen as acceptance of Israel's disputed grip on the
eastern half of the city, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday.
The argument by some respected Islamic scholars that going to the al-Aqsa mosque is
forbidden as long as access is controlled by Israelis is wrong-headed, Abbas said
Muslim faithful visit Mecca and Medina with the permission of Saudi Arabia. But seeking
Israel's consent to get to al-Aqsa is seen by some Muslims as acquiescence in Israeli
occupation.
But this month, two Jordanian princes visited the mosque and adjacent Dome of the Rock,
and Jordanian intelligence official Hussein al-Majali was seen at the sacred compound on
Monday.
Their trips to Jerusalem must have been coordinated with Israel. Access to al-Aqsa is
guarded by Israel security forces, who protect all of Jerusalem's holy sites.
Abbas said there was a "long controversy with several prominent Arab and non-Arab figures,
on visiting Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem". Some were saying "this visit is forbidden", he told an
Arab youth delegation in Ramallah, his West Bank capital.
"There was an intense and important dispute between us and some of our brothers among
Islamic scholars whom we respect," Abbas said. "But they mixed the religious with the
secular, religion with politics, and partisanship with Islam. The result was that they've lost
touch with what's right and just."
When prominent Egyptian cleric Mufti Ali Gomaa visited al-Aqsa last week, there were calls
for his resignation from the Islamist-dominated parliament in Cairo.
Jews revere the al Aqsa compound as site of their Biblical Temple, destroyed by Roman
troops in the 1st century. Surviving foundations of its Western Wall are now a focus of prayer.
For Muslims, who captured Jerusalem from the Christian Byzantines in the 7th century, the
Dome of the Rock marks the spot from which the Prophet Mohammad made his night
journey to heaven. They refer to the plaza as the Noble Sanctuary.
FRIENDS WITH THE WARDEN
Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, including the Old City and sacred
sites. Israel subsequently annexed the land and declared all of the city its "eternal and
indivisible capital" - a move not recognized internationally.

But the Jordanian monarchy retains a role in ensuring the upkeep of the Muslim holy places
and backs Palestinian demands for East Jerusalem to be their future capital.
"Muslims cannot wait years for a political accord," said a Jordanian official, referring to frozen
negotiations aimed at ending the long-running Middle East conflict and creating an
independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
"These visits highlight the importance of the sacred shrines that are threatened by Israeli
measures to Judaise Jerusalem," the official said, declining to be named because of the
sensitivity of the issue.
Jordan invited Gomaa to visit the al-Aqsa mosque and is taking a more pro-active approach
to asserting the Muslim character of Jerusalem, Jordanian officials said, as Israeli settlement
activity in and around the city continues.
The spate of high-level appearances follows a call by Abbas to end the long-standing
tradition since 1967 of prominent Arabs to boycott Jerusalem.
"Visiting a prisoner is an act of support and does not mean normalisation with the warden,"
Abbas told Arab leaders in Qatar in February.
ACCESS FOR ALL THREE FAITHS
Israel says that when Jordan controlled East Jerusalem, Jews were prevented from attending
their holy places. Now, it says, followers of all the three monotheistic religions -- Judaism,
Christianity and Islam -- are free to worship in Jerusalem.
Any restrictions placed on access by Palestinians to al-Aqsa are the result of security
concerns, Israel says.
Abbas's call drew fire from some fellow Palestinians, with the Islamic group Hamas, which
rules Gaza, denouncing the idea.
"Visits to Jerusalem by Arab officials while it is under occupation are a form of normalisation
and constitute a gift to the occupation by legitimising its presence," said Hamas spokesman
Sami Abu Zuhri.
Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction.
Jerusalem's Muslim community says the visits have coincided with a period of tension, as
radical Jewish settlers grow increasingly assertive at the site.
"Almost every day a group of settlers comes through the Mughrabi gate," said Faisal
Mohammed, one of the sanctuary's guards, referring to an entrance under Israeli control
through which non-Muslim tourists can access the leafy compound.
"These aren't just ordinary trips, they're invasions."
The Palestinian Authority-appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem denied the visits had any
political mission. Media reports that Jordan used them to discuss the status of the Mughrabi
Bridge or other aspects of the site's future were false, he said.

"Visits which affirm the Arab and Islamic character of al-Aqsa, even before its liberation, are
welcome. My own proclamations affirm this," the Grand Mufti told Reuters.
"Those that are aggressive and meant to attack our shrine are not, and Israel must forbid
them." (Additional reporting by Dominic Evans in Beirut, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ali
Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Douglas Hamilton and Mark Heinrich)

Israel eases Gaza embargo to allow snack food in

By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA | Wed Jun 9, 2010 1:34pm EDT
(Reuters) - Israel is easing its Gaza embargo to allow snack food and drinks into the
Palestinian enclave, Palestinian officials said Wednesday, following an international outcry
over Israel's raid on an aid flotilla.
Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip, said the territory needs cement, banned
by Israel and essential for reconstruction after a December 2008-January 2009 war, not soft
drinks.
An Israeli official said the new product list, announced hours before U.S. President Barack
Obama hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington, was unrelated to
Israel's May 31 takeover of the convoy that challenged its Gaza blockade.
The talks between Obama and Abbas were expected to focus on ways to ease the embargo,
which has drawn mounting international criticism since Israeli commandos, who met violent
resistance on a Turkish-flagged ship, killed nine pro-Palestinian activists.
In joint remarks, Obama said the situation in Gaza was unsustainable and Abbas repeated
his call to end the blockade.
Obama said the United States was providing $400 million in new aid for the Palestinians.
The Palestinian officials, based in the West Bank, said that as of next week, Israel will allow a
wider variety of food, such as potato crisps, biscuits, canned fruit and packaged humous, as
well as soft drinks and juice, into the Gaza Strip.
"They will send the first course. We are waiting for the main course," Palestinian Economy
Minister Hassan Abu Libdeh said in Ramallah. "We are waiting for this unjust siege to end."
Israel says its blockade of Gaza is necessary to choke off weapons supplies to Hamas, which
is opposed to Abbas's peace efforts with the Jewish state.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, asked Wednesday about Israel's policy, said Hamas
has used humanitarian donations to strengthen its military capabilities in Gaza.
"Construction materials haven't gone for housing, they've gone for bunkers," Gates said on
the program Frost Over the World to be broadcast on Al Jazeera's English-language channel.
Hamas played down the impact of the new Israeli product list.
"We have three factories that make carbonated drinks. They say they want to allow in potato
chips, but we have factories that produce more than enough to meet Gaza's needs," said
Ziyad al-Zaza, economic and trade minister in Hamas's Gaza-based government.

"We are looking for a true, real lifting of the blockade ... the import of raw materials for
industry and construction materials for the reconstruction of Gaza," he said.
The United Nations says the Israeli blockade has caused a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, an
allegation Israel denies.
CEMENT BAN
Israel's ban on cement imports into the territory has limited efforts to rebuild homes and
infrastructure destroyed or damaged in a three-week war it launched in December 2008 with
the stated aim of curbing cross-border rocket fire.
Israeli officials have said Hamas could use cement to build bunkers and other military
installations.
Asked about the new list of Israeli-approved products, the Israeli government official said:
"Over the last six months, Israel has increased the volume of goods going into Gaza and
their variety. That policy is continuing."
A variety of goods comes into the Gaza Strip from neighboring Egypt via smuggling tunnels.
Egypt, which largely closed its Gaza border after the Hamas takeover, reopened the frontier
indefinitely following the Israeli naval raid.
Commenting on the blockade, an Israeli security source said Israel aimed to remove all
restrictions on imported food items for Gaza within a few weeks and noted that jam and
several other products were approved recently.
"This has nothing to do with the flotilla," the source said, making no mention of whether
Israel might expand the list to include reconstruction materials.
Israeli authorities said that last week, Israel transferred 12,413 tons of humanitarian aid
through Gaza border crossings.
The shipments included 994,000 liters of fuel for Gaza's power station, 748 tons of cooking
gas and eight truckloads of medicine and medical equipment, according to an Israeli list.
(Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Additional reporting Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah
and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem)
Israel pushes settlement plan ahead; EU summons envoy

By Jeffrey Heller and Justyna Pawlak

JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS | Wed Dec 5, 2012 1:29pm EST
(Reuters) - Israel moved ahead with plans to build 3,000 settler homes in one of the most
sensitive areas of the West Bank, as the European Union summoned Israel's envoy to add its
voice to a storm of international protest.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday the global condemnation,
some of it from the Jewish state's closest traditional allies, would not deter it from defending
its "vital interests".
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday declared the housing project, which
could divide the West Bank and make the creation of a contiguous future Palestinian state
almost impossible, to be an uncrossable "red line".
An Israeli Defence Ministry official said architects and contractors appeared before a
subcommittee of the military-run Civil Administration in the West Bank and registered their

plans for construction in the E1 corridor near Jerusalem, a preliminary step before building
permits are issued.
Angered by the U.N. General Assembly's de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood on
Thursday, Israel announced the next day it would build the new dwellings for settlers, on
land near Jerusalem that Palestinians seek for a future state.
BARREN HILLS
The decision by Netanyahu's pro-settler government to build houses on the E1 corridor's
barren hills could bisect the West Bank, cut off Palestinians from Jerusalem and further dim
their hopes for an independent state on contiguous territory.
"E1 is a red line that cannot be crossed," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in the
West Bank city of Ramallah.
The subcommittee convened hours before Netanyahu was due to visit Germany, where he
faces a dressing down from Chancellor Angela Merkel over the settlement project.
The Israeli prime minister, for his part, is still smarting from what he considers Berlin's
betrayal after Germany abstained in the U.N. vote upgrading the Palestinians' status to nonmember state at the world body.
Netanyahu, stopping in Prague to thank the Czech Republic for voting against, reiterated
that he remained committed to a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
Peace should entail "a demilitarized Palestinian state (that) recognizes the one and only
Jewish state of Israel", he said, citing two Israeli conditions Palestinians have balked at.
Netanyahu, favored to win a January 22 general election with the backing of right-wing
voters, has rejected calls by the United States and Europe to reverse course over
settlements, which most countries consider illegal.
"Israel will not sacrifice its vital interests for the sake of obtaining the world's applause," he
said in Prague.
Israel's housing minister has said construction work in E1 will not begin for at least a year.
Commenting on the subcommittee's session, the defence official said it was a "procedural,
preliminary stage".
ENVOYS SUMMONED
The European Union summoned Israel's ambassador.
"The Israeli ambassador has been invited by the Executive Secretary General of the EEAS
(European External Action Service) to meet to set out the depth of our concerns," a
spokeswoman said.
The Executive Secretary General - the senior diplomat in charge of policy for EU foreign
affairs chief Catherine Ashton - is Pierre Vimont, former French ambassador to Washington.
Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi summoned the Israeli envoy in Rome for a similar
meeting on Wednesday, following Britain, France, Spain, Sweden and Denmark in such a
move.
But EU states have been struggling to agree on a common response.
The spokeswoman said the EU reaction would depend on the extent to which they
threatened the creation of a viable state of Palestine in the future.

After winning the U.N. status upgrade, the Palestinians can access the International Criminal
Court in The Hague, which prosecutes people for genocide, war crimes and other major
human rights violations and where it could complain about Israel.
The Palestinians have said they will not rush to sign up to the International Criminal Court,
but have warned that seeking action against Israel in the court would remain an option if
Israel continued to build illegal settlements.
They sent a letter of protest to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday.
"A clear message must be sent to Israel that all of its illegal policies must be ceased or that
it will be held accountable and will have to bear the consequences if its violations and
obstruction of peace efforts," Palestinian U.N. observer Riyad Mansour wrote.
UN RESOLUTION "ONE-SIDED"
Analysts said Netanyahu hoped to solidify right-wing support by promoting settlements in
the run-up to the parliamentary election, even at the risk of diplomatic isolation.
U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2010 in a dispute over settlement
building, and Abbas pressed ahead with his unilateral move at the United Nations over U.S.
and Israeli objections and calls to return to the negotiating table.
"Our conflict with the Palestinians will be resolved only through direct negotiations that
address the needs of both Israelis and Palestinians," Netanyahu said in Prague.
"It will not be resolved through one-sided resolutions at the U.N. that ignore Israel's vital
needs and undermine the basic foundations of peace."
The West Bank and East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, is home
to some 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians.
(Writing by Andrew Roche; Editing by Jon Boyle)

REFERENCES
1 http://www.reuters.com/. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
2 Thomson Reuters Fact Book 2010. http://ir.thomsonreuters.com/phoenix.zhtml?
c=76540&p=irol-factbook. Retrieved April 10, 2011.
3 http://blogs.reuters.com/axismundi/2009/02/06/welcome-to-jerusalem-centre-of-the-world/.
Retrieved September 1, 2010.
4 http://thomsonreuters.com/about/locations. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
5 http://sites.roosevelt.edu/hsilverman/files/2011/11/Reuters-article-JABR.pdf (The Journal of
Applied Business Research by Henry I. Silverman, Roosevelt University, USA)