The Jerusalem Post
By Gil Shefler
The European Jewish Congress on Saturday urged Reuters to dismiss an employee who allegedly sent an e-mail explicitly supporting the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations.
The Jewish organization headed by billionaire Moshe Kantor said the letter it received from the news wire’s employee “compromises the journalists’ code of objectivity and impartiality”.
“It is inconceivable that Reuters will continue to employ staff who so openly express ill-informed and ignorant opinions”, the EJC said. “We call upon Reuters, one of the oldest news agencies in the world and one that has a reputation for fair and balanced news, to remove employees who bring a political agenda into their work in journalism and media, and in their professional relations”.
Earlier last week, the EJC received an e-mail from the work mailbox of Reuters employee Svebor Kranjc supporting the Palestinian Authority’s unilateral declaration of independence.
“I am going to support it!” the e-mail read, referring to the UN statehood bid. “You have your state but you don’t want others to have their state. So sad…”
The e-mail was sent in response to a press release disseminated by the EJC to media in which it argued against the initiative.
A Reuters representative in New York responded to the EJC on Saturday by saying the company was looking into the incident.
“Reuters stands by its commitment to unbiased and independent reporting in the region and across the globe”, the representative said. “At this time, we are conducting an internal investigation to determine whether these accusations are valid”.
