Reuters has pulled two stories about the World Anti-Doping Agency after it was discovered that one of its officials obtained a Reuters news agency accreditation to attend the Masters golf tournament, reports Martyn Ziegler of The Times of London.
Ziegler reports, “Senior Reuters staff were unaware that Fitzgerald had been accredited as an agency representative. He is not thought to have worked at the tournament as a journalist.
“Reuters said in a statement: ‘A journalist who no longer works for Reuters has acknowledged that they helped a representative of Wada obtain a Reuters press credential for the 2024 Masters tournament, a violation of our journalistic standards.
“‘Consequently, we have withdrawn the stories ‘Athletes Undercover? Global and US anti-doping Agencies Clash Over Tactics’ and ‘Wada renews call for Usada to get tougher on testing’.
“‘While we stand by the accuracy of the reporting, Reuters’ standards for newsgathering were not met, specifically as they pertain to avoiding the appearance of bias in our sourcing.'”
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