Wire Service Hacked; Phony Syrian War Accounts Purged

Reuters Building(Photo credit: stevecadman)Financial hardship has prompted major newspapers and broadcast outlets to retrench on coverage of global events, increasing our reliance on established wire services, such as Associated Press and Reuters, to keep us apprised about international conflicts.

Which makes all the more disturbing New York Magazine's report that Reuters was hacked into and two fake stories posted suggesting that the Free Syrian Army suffered major setbacks in its fight against the Assad-led Syrian government.  The Moon of Alabama blog and Twitter users noted that Reuters pulled two items that falsely reported Syrian rebels being defeated by the Syrian Army in certain districts of Salah Al Deen in Aleppo, where the FSA is well-entrenched.

The wire service admitted it was compromised by hackers and said it was working to prevent a recurrence.