Accusation of collaboration with the CIA In 1977,
Rolling Stone and
The New York Times said that according to information from
CIA officials, Reuters cooperated with the CIA. In response to that, Reuters' then-managing director, Gerald Long, had asked for evidence of the charges, but none was provided, according to Reuters' then-managing editor for North America,
Policy of objective language Reuters has a policy of taking a "value-neutral approach," which extends to not using the word
terrorist in its stories. The practice attracted criticism following the
September 11 attacks. Reuters' editorial policy states: "Reuters may refer without attribution to terrorism and counterterrorism in general, but do not refer to specific events as terrorism. Nor does Reuters use the word
terrorist without attribution to qualify specific individuals, groups or events." By contrast, the
Associated Press uses
the term terrorist in reference to non-governmental organizations that carry out attacks on civilian populations.
Climate change reporting In July 2013, David Fogarty, former Reuters
climate change correspondent in Asia, resigned after a career of almost 20 years with the company and wrote that "progressively, getting any climate change-themed story published got harder" after comments from then-deputy editor-in-chief
Paul Ingrassia that he was a "
climate change sceptic." In his comments, Fogarty stated: Ingrassia, formerly Reuters' managing editor, previously worked for
The Wall Street Journal and
Dow Jones for 31 years. Reuters responded to Fogarty's piece by stating: "Reuters has a number of staff dedicated to covering this story, including a team of specialist reporters at Point Carbon and a columnist. There has been no change in our editorial policy." Subsequently, climate blogger
Joe Romm cited a Reuters article on climate as having a "
false balance" and quoted Stefan Rahmstorf, co- of Earth System Analysis at the
Potsdam Institute that "[s]imply, a lot of unrelated climate sceptics nonsense has been added to this Reuters piece. In the words of the late Steve Schneider, this is like adding some nonsense from the
Flat Earth Society to a report about the latest generation of telecommunication satellites. It is absurd." Romm opined: "We can't know for certain who insisted on cramming this absurd and non-germane 'climate sceptics nonsense' into the piece, but we have a strong clue. If it had been part of the reporter's original reporting, you would have expected direct quotes from actual sceptics, because that is journalism 101. The fact that the blather was all inserted without attribution suggests it was added at the insistence of an editor."
Photograph controversies According to
Ynetnews, Reuters was accused of bias against Israel in its coverage of the
2006 Israel–Lebanon conflict after the wire service
used two doctored photos by a
Lebanese freelance photographer, Adnan Hajj. In August 2006, Reuters announced it had severed all ties with Hajj and said his photographs would be removed from its database. In 2010, Reuters was criticised again by
Haaretz for "anti-Israeli" bias when it cropped the edges of photos, removing commandos' knives held by activists and a naval commando's blood from photographs taken aboard the
Mavi Marmara during the
2010 Gaza flotilla, a raid that left nine Turkish activists dead. It has been alleged that in two separate photographs, knives held by the activists were cropped out of the versions of the pictures published by Reuters. Reuters said it is standard operating procedure to crop photos at the margins, and replaced the cropped images with the original ones after it was brought to the agency's attention. Indian local media picked up the report, and the man whose image was wrongly used was invited and interrogated for nine hours by Indian police. Reuters admitted to the error, but Raphael Satter claimed that it had mistaken the man for the suspected hacker Sumit Gupta because both men share the same business address. A check by local media, however, showed that both men were in different buildings and not as claimed by Raphael Satter. As the report of the inaccurate reporting trickled out to the public, Reuters' senior director of communication Heather Carpenter contacted media outlets to ask them to take down their posts. which was removed from the current version of the text. This confused readers, and suggested that the former president was involved in corruption and the comment was attributed to him. Reuters later confirmed the error, and explained that the comment, originating from one of the local editors, was actually intended for the journalist who wrote the original text in English, and that it should not have been published.
Funding by the UK Government In November 2019, the
UK Foreign Office released archive documents confirming that it had provided funding to Reuters during the 1960s and 1970s so that Reuters could expand its coverage in the Middle East. An agreement was made between the
Information Research Department (IRD) and Reuters for the
UK Treasury to provide £350,000 over four years to fund Reuters' expansion. The UK government had already been funding the Latin American department of Reuters through a shell company, but that method was discounted for the Middle East operation since the accounting of the shell company looked suspicious, and the IRD stated that the company "already looks queer to anyone who might wish to investigate why such an inactive and unprofitable company continues to run." Instead, the
BBC was used to fund the project by paying for enhanced subscriptions to the news organisation for which the Treasury would reimburse the BBC at a later date. The IRD acknowledged that this agreement would not give them editorial control over Reuters, although the IRD believed it would give them political influence over Reuters' work, stating "this influence would flow, at the top level, from Reuters' willingness to consult and to listen to views expressed on the results of its work."
Partnership with TASS On 1 June 2020, Reuters announced that Russian news agency
TASS had joined its "Reuters Connect" programme, comprising a then-total of 18 partner agencies. Reuters president Michael Friedenberg said he was "delighted that TASS and Reuters are building upon our valued partnership." Two years later, TASS's membership in Reuters Connect came under scrutiny in the wake of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine;
Politico reported that Reuters staff members were "frustrated and embarrassed" that their agency had not suspended its partnership with TASS. On 23 March 2022, Reuters removed TASS from its "content marketplace." Matthew Keen, interim CEO of Reuters said "we believe making TASS content available on Reuters Connect is not aligned with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles."
Fossil fuel advertising An investigation by
The Intercept,
The Nation, and
DeSmog found that Reuters is one of the leading media outlets that publishes advertising for the
fossil fuel industry. Journalists who cover
climate change for Reuters are concerned that
conflicts of interest with the companies and industries that
caused climate change and
obstructed action will reduce the credibility of their reporting on climate change and cause readers to downplay the
climate crisis. Reuters supported the journalist's denial of conducting journalism in India, and a legal petition was filed in the
Delhi High Court to challenge the OCI cancellation, with a hearing scheduled for May 22, 2025, though specific charges were not detailed. Reuters contested the allegations, asserting the journalist's activities were personal although The Indian government maintained that the journalist violated regulations requiring OCI cardholders to obtain prior approval for journalistic work.
Valerie Zink resignation In August 2025, Valerie Zink, a photo journalist who had been working with Reuters for 8 years, announced her resignation from the agency after accusing it of perpetuating Israel's claims over its
war in Gaza, at the expense of other journalists including its own reporters. She further accused Reuters of publishing Israel's claims that
Anas Al-Sharif (a journalist working in Gaza) was a Hamas operative. She also stated that five more journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hossam Al-Masri, were among 20 people killed in an attack on Nasser hospital in the
Gaza Strip. ==See also==