REUTERS IS NOW A UNIT OF US INFO-WAR COMMAND, REPORTERS AND INVESTORS REVOLT — John Helmer

Stephen Adler (lead image), the American chief executive of Reuters news agency, has ordered into publication three US Government-directed stories targeting the Russian oil company Rosneft — the first in mid-April, and two published over the past week. Adler’s operations support US coup plans in Venezuela and US sanctions against Rosneft and its chief executive, Igor Sechin.

The three publications — the first already corrected by the news agency; the second commissioned from a writer outside the company; the latest missing its byline or author’s name — have triggered dismay among Reuters’ reporters worldwide. A New York source claims Adler’s promotion of US Government-sourced propaganda violates the Reuters Trust Principles which have regulated the international news agency since 1941.

The first two Reuters principles Adler is accused of breaking are that “Reuters shall at no time pass into the hands of any one interest, group, or faction; [and] that the integrity, independence, and freedom from bias of Thomson Reuters shall at all times be fully preserved.”

Not just Reuters. All corporate media appear to be guilty of betrayal of trust and have thereby forfeited their right to freedom of the press. Liberal democracy — not that this exists presently in the US — requires not only press freedom and freedom of speech, but also the use this freedom for inquiry as the basis or informed choice. Propaganda is antithetical to liberal democracy. Participation in information warfare is worse.

Dancing with Bears

REUTERS IS NOW A UNIT OF US INFO-WAR COMMAND, REPORTERS AND INVESTORS REVOLT
John Helmer

See also

Edward Curtain
The War Hoax Redux