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.

Blimey! Scotland Yard Pinches Murdoch Journos for Hacking & Wiretapping

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe Guardian's online edition (guardian.co.uk) reports today that the naughty tabloid News of the World ("NoW") (www.newsoftheworld.co.uk), which is owned by News Group Newspapers, Ltd., a subsidiary of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., has seen one of its principal reporters and a former news editor who NoW fired in January arrested by Scotland Yard for allegedly intercepting mobile phone voice messages.

Ian Edmondson, 50, and 42-year-old Neville Thurlbeck were arrested by Scotland Yard on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications (Sec. 1(1) of Criminal Law Act 1977) and unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000). Both Edmondson and Thurlbeck have denied criminal wrongdoing.