Posted on 09/04/2004 6:01:14 AM PDT by Diago
Reuters Editor Blasts Pro-Life Advocates, President Bush in Hostile Email
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 30, 2004
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Media outlets are supposed to report news, not make it. But an editor for one of the world's most recognized news outlets is at the center of a controversy over abortion after he emailed scathing remarks to a pro-life group in response to a press release.
After sending out a routine press release responding to a judge's decision against the partial-birth abortion ban, the National Right to Life Committee received a scathing email from Todd Eastham, a Reuters editor in Washington.
"What's your plan for parenting and educating all the unwanted children you people want to bring into the world," Eastham asks. "Who will pay for policing our streets and maintaining the prisons needed to contain them when you, their parents and the system fail them?"
"Oh, sorry. All that money has been earmarked to pay off the Bush deficit," Eastham continues. "Give me a frigging break, will you?"
Douglas Johnson, NRLC's legislative director, received the email and said he was shocked to see Eastham's response.
"It is sad, but revealing, to see an editor for a major news service so casually and gratuitously express such blatant hostility to both the Bush Administration and to the right to life of unborn children," Johnson said in response.
"We can only wonder at how such vehement opinions may color Mr. Eastham's reporting or editing on subjects such as abortion and the Bush Administration," Johnson added.
Eastham is defending his actions, despite departing from Reuters policy.
He says he normally doesn't edit stories submitted by reporters on the topic of abortion. In response to a Washington Post query about the email, Eastham claims he read the news release "as a personal political solicitation and was not responding in my capacity as an editor."
"I didn't intend this as a professional communication," Eastham contends.
However Eastham apparently violated Reuters "editorial policy," that says "Reuters journalists do not offer their own opinions or views."
Reuters spokesman Stephen Naru told the Post it's "unfortunate" that an editor "chose to offer his personal opinion."
An email to Eastham from LifeNews.com requesting comment for this story was not returned.
Eastham is a Reuters editor for North American news stories. He has also authored numerous Reuters news stories on subjects such as politics and the Catholic Church.
ACTION: To express your opinon about Mr. Eastham's email, go to http://www.reuters.com/-helpSection.jhtml?p=contactUs
Printed from: http://www.lifenews.com/nat770.html
You wrote:
"The solution to the "unwanted" children who are being born is get them adopted into loving homes. "
As far as I'm concerned, Monica Lewinsky taught
all democrats how to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
Todd Eastham reveals himself to be one of the worst kinds of racists, those who hide their racism, but act on it every day.
So who goes to prision in the view of liberals? Minorities!
Reuters coddles terrorists, so coddling a racist probably goes unnoticed. So what is Todd's solution? A final solution, for minorities that is.
Remember, Planned Parenthood's founder saw abortion as a remedy for classes of people she called "genetic weeds".
Bumping for the truth about the left-wing media (old media)
mark for reference
The feedback form at Reuters would not let me copy & paste my letter to them, but believe me it was one of the best things I have ever written in my life.
So there, nah-nah-nee-nah-nah!
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