Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 09:26:29 -0500 (EST) From: David Casti Subject: ACTION ALERT: Don't let Reuters get away with murder Hi folks, Please fax the office nearest you and vent your frustrations to this "independent news agency" for releasing such an outrageous headline on the newswire. REUTERS LOS ANGELES CA 1-213-622-0056 REUTERS SAN FRANCISCO CA 1-415-986-5147 REUTERS WASHINGTON DC 1-202-898-8383 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Casti Pager: (800) 980-6227 Information Scientist http://www.casti.com/casti/David.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Submitted by: leliorisen@AOL.COM Reuters has done an appalling thing. In it's story on the McClendon murder conviction in Mississippi, it has victimized 2 murdered gay men. Due to copyright laws, I cannot print the entire story, so here are the essentials. The story was transmitted internationally on Thursday, February 9th, at 23:05:39EST. If you have access to AOL do a news search using the keyword gay and you will find the story. Reuters is also available on other platforms. The headline was "Teen convicted of killing men after sexual advances". That is not true. The only one to claim sexual advances was the defendant and the jury found him guilty. It was the prosecutions contention that the murder was motivated by robbery. I believe $100 was the stolen sum. But mowhere does this article mention any of the prosecutions case. In fact, virtually the entire article consists of quotes from the defense attorney, such as "it's a defeat for justice, it's a defeat for decency, it's a defeat for people who want to keep this town protected from men trawling this town for sex.". When the attorney isn't quoted, McClendon's defense is paraphrased with statements like "he killed the two men because he was afraid of being raped and contracting AIDS". The article also delves into McClendon opening up the racial issue (the killer was black..the victims white) by repeating McClendon's contention that the victims used the word 'nigger' (not supported, as were none of the defendants allegations). I am shocked that not a single word to portray what the jury found happened surfaced in this article. Based on the headline and the way the story was written you would be led to believe that 2 gays threatened McClendon, who then killed them. But the jury convicted McClendon anyway. THAT is the story that the world is seeing and we must contact Reuters in any manner possible to see that this is corrected, retracted and never happens again. Whoever is responsible for writing the story shoudl be fired (not to mention the editor who allowed it to be transmitted). The headline alone is grounds for that. Thank you, Scott