Reuters’ coverage in Pakistan displays compromise on standards

Half a dozen employees quit news agency over increasing sensationalism.

KARACHI: Nearly half a dozen employees of Reuters – one of the largest international news agencies – in Pakistan have resigned in protest against what they believe are “unethical journalism practices” being pursued by the incumbent management.

“None of us were fired. We all chose to walk away as we failed to counter the growing sensationalism and lack of ethics,” Faisal Aziz, a former Reuters’ correspondent commented on Numair Shahzada’s article on The Express Tribune Blogs.

Shahzada is one of the two sources who, the blog post said, were misquoted in a Reuter’s article written by Anam Zehra. He challenged the content of the article in his blog post, claiming it was misleading.

In a Reuters’ article titled ‘In Pakistan, underground parties push the boundaries’, Zehra breached the trust of her sources by quoting them without their prior consent. Shahzada wrote in his blog post: “media, how you represent Pakistan is not ‘epic’!”

Zehra assured Adil Omar and Shahzada, the two sources, that she was writing a light piece on music and parties in Islamabad and that she would only quote them on what they agreed to beforehand. But Zehra used comments from an off-the-record conversation, Shahzada complained.

“We were led to believe this article was on the power of sound, voices of free people, and the emotions the few who want change can invoke in the masses,” his post read, questioning, “What was the point of mentioning Taliban leaders and Zia’s regime in her post?”

Shahzada’s blog has raised questions regarding how some foreign media houses cover stories in Pakistan.

Despite howls of protest, Reuters did not run any clarification on the article which was co-edited by Michael Georgy, now Reuters’ Bureau chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan. With Reuters not responding, it was not clear whether Shahzada’s claims were investigated by the news agency.

Investigations reveal that nearly half a dozen reporters – including those who served the agency for a good number of years – have resigned after being unsatisfied with what they believed was the “unethical treatment of stories”.

“The ethical guidelines are strict but they are clouded,” one staffer said, adding, “Rules governing coverage are the same but implementation is not there.”

In the past, only professional and experienced reporters would be hired by Reuters, said staffers. “The recruitment standards were so high that there weren’t any mistakes as such. If there were any complaints, they would be investigated properly. This is not happening now,” a staffer said.

“It was always the reporter on the ground who would decide what stories were to be done and there was no concept of conjuring stories on the desk. There were no forced assignments,” the staffer added.

“But now only young inexperienced reporters are hired by the agency. Their stories, especially those of interest to international readers, are preconceived. At times the editors only take quotes from the reporters and write the entire story themselves,” a source claimed.

It is more of a management issue and has nothing to do with the policy, said another ex-staffer who worked for the company and then resigned. The source refused to answer any further queries though.

“Editors always did additional writing on reporters’ copies at Reuters,” The News Editor Amir Zia recalled. He said this is a standard practice at many wire services and there is nothing wrong with that. Zia, who worked for Reuters till 2005, seconded Aziz regarding the ethical judgment practiced at Reuters.

“Facts were considered the most important ingredients in a story. There would be no tampering with quotes,” Zia claimed. “Content was double-checked as we always carried a recorder with us,” he added.

“Reuters has no immediate comment,” Georgy said in response to a text message and requested for more details on the story, which was sent to him. The news agency’s bureau chief said, in an email, that he would get back as soon as he can.

The Express Tribune did not receive his response till the filing of this story.

When Chris Allbritton – Reuters’ former bureau chief who recently left his job – was contacted, he too, refused to comment on the subject.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2012.