Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Obama White House Orders Reuters Article Recall

After ordering Toyota to recall and to stop the production of Camrys and Colloras and Tundras, the Obama White House orders (or pressures) Reuters to retract an article about the 2011 federal budget proposal.

Things are getting weirder by the day, and I don't like it a bit.

Earlier this morning, I went to Yahoo Finance as I always do every morning and read the news by Reuters about the 2011 federal budget proposed by Obama, "Backdoor taxes to hit middle class" written by Terri Cullen on February 1, 2010.

When I checked back later, the article was gone. Instead of the article, I get a Yahoo search page. Drudge Report's headline says "Reuters pulls tax story".

What's going on?

It turns out the Obama White House put the pressure on Reuters to withdraw the story last night, by ostensibly pointing out "the errors of fact":

Reuters Pulls 'Backdoor Taxes' Story (Rachel Slajda, 2/2/2010 TMP)

"The news service Reuters withdrew a story last night titled "Backdoor taxes to hit middle class" after the White House reached out and pointed out "errors of fact."

"The story, which claimed the White House's deficit reduction plan relies on raising taxes against the middle class by allowing tax cuts to expire, was withdrawn at about 8 p.m. Monday, according to Yahoo timestamps. The original story ran at 4 p.m. The withdrawal promises a replacement story later this week.

""The story went out, and it shouldn't have gone out," said Courtney Dolan, a spokeswoman for Reuters. "It had significant errors of fact."

"She would not elaborate on the specific errors, but said Reuters will "address those specific points that were incorrect."

""The White House did contact us and point out errors of fact," she added.

"The story was running at the top of the Drudge Report's front page this morning (here's the archived page) until White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton tweeted about the withdrawal:

"FYI - Reuters has withdrawn the story at the top of the Drudge Report. Check it
out here: http://bit.ly/cykiPJ"

That Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire and that Obama has no intention of renewing them has been known. So what's wrong with the Reuters editor Terri Cullen, who worked for Wall Street Journal Online for 13 years, to point those out?

What exactly are "the errors of fact", and why does it take Reuters until "sometime later this week" to issue a replacement article? A replacement?

It seems that America is fast becoming 'Oceania', controlled by "Minitru".

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