Times of Israel  |  March 30, 2012

Iran Boots Reuters Over Ninja Story
News service gets the ax for calling martial artists 'assassins'

Iranian women queue to cast their ballot for the parliamentary elections at Masoumeh shrine in the city of Qom, Iran, on Friday, March 2, 2012 (photo credit: AP/Kamran Jebreili)

The Iranian government has rescinded Reuters’ press accreditation for an offensive headline for an article on female ninjas in the Islamic Republic.

Writing about a school training women in ninjutsu, Reuters originally headlined its article “Thousands of female ninjas train as Iran’s assassins.”

The news service quoted one of the fighters as saying, “Our aim is for Iranian women to be strengthened and, if a problem arises, we will definitely declare our readiness to defend our Islamic homeland.”

Following publication of the article, several of the women threatened to sue Reuters for defamation. Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance also complained to Reuters about the article, and the company quickly changed the headline to “Three thousand women ninjas train in Iran.”

Despite the move, Reuters staffers were ordered to surrender their press cards.

Reuters said in a statement that it was in discussions with the government to resolve the situation.

Original article here.