Edelstein slams Reuters crop job

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Minister of Public Diplomacy Yuli Edelstein (pictured) sent a letter to Reuters chief executive Tom Glocer Monday expressing the “grave concern of the government of Israel” that the agency had deliberately cropped photographs taken aboard the Mavi Marama last week to exclude images of knives in the hands of activists.
“I am sure you are aware that pictures – originally produced by the violent activists aboard the Mavi Marama and published in the Turkish media – clearly show the use of knives against Israeli servicemen,” Edelstein wrote.
“However, when these pictures were initially distributed on the wires by Reuters picture service, they were cropped to exclude the knives and blood that bore evidence of the violent intentions of those who participated in the attacks, and provided vital evidence in support of Israel’s claims.”
The letter, in which Edelstein called the cropping an “abuse of photo-imagery by Reuters,” was cc’ed to David Thomson, chairman of Thomson Reuters, the wire service’s parent company, and Alistair MacDonald, the Reuters bureau chief in Jerusalem.
Edelstein acknowledged that Reuters later “distributed the original images.”