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.”
RELATED:
WJC president: Palestinian UN bid will cause terrorism
'More people support than oppose Palestinian state'“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.”
