Reuters, a global news agency, corrected the story after the martial arts club where the video was filmed made a complaint.
The February 16 story’s headline, “Thousands of female Ninjas train as Iran’s assassins.” was corrected to read “Three thousand women Ninjas train in Iran.”
The reference to “assassins” was contained only in the headline, which was applied by some news editor in London. There was no reference to assassins in the news video itself.
Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance subsequently contacted the Reuters Tehran bureau chief and directed that all 11 Reuters personnel in Tehran hand back their press cards.
“We acknowledge this error occurred and regard it as a very serious matter. It was promptly corrected the same day it came to our attention,” said editor-in-chief Stephen J. Adler. “In addition, we have conducted an internal review and have taken appropriate steps to prevent a recurrence,” he said.
Adler said that Reuters was in discussions with Iranian authorities in an effort to restore the accreditation. The ministry said the suspension was “indefinite.”
“Reuters always strives for the highest standards in journalism and our policy is to acknowledge errors honestly and correct them promptly when they occur,” he added.
PressTV, the English language arm of Iranian state broadcasting, carried a story quoting one of the women, as saying the Reuters story could make it hard for the women to travel abroad and to participate in international jujitsu contests.