Reuters withdraws Xi, Putin longevity video after China state TV pulls legal permission to use it

Reuters News on Friday (Sep 5) withdrew a four-minute video containing an exchange between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussing the possibility that humans can live to 150 years old, after China state TV demanded its removal and withdrew the legal permission to use it. 

The footage, which included the open mic exchange from the military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, was licensed by the China state television network, China Central Television (CCTV). 

The clips were edited by Reuters into a four-minute video and distributed to more than 1,000 global media clients including major international news broadcasters and TV stations around the world. Other news agency licensees of CCTV also distributed edits of the footage. 

Reuters removed the video from its website and issued a “kill” order to its clients on Friday after receiving a written request from CCTV’s lawyer. The letter said the news agency exceeded usage terms of its agreement. The letter further criticised Reuters “editorial treatment applied to this material,” but did not specify details.

Reuters said in a statement that it withdrew the videos because it no longer held the legal permission to publish this copyrighted material.

Representatives of CCTV and CCTV’s global arm, China Global Television Network, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The video and story of the Xi and Putin exchange were widely shared by broadcasters and on social media globally. 

“The editorial treatment applied to this material has resulted in a clear misrepresentation of the facts and statements contained within the licensed feed,” wrote He Danning, legal supervisor of CCTV News Agency, in the letter to Reuters on Friday.

“We stand by the accuracy of what we published,” Reuters said in its statement. “We have carefully reviewed the published footage, and we have found no reason to believe Reuters longstanding commitment to accurate, unbiased journalism has been compromised.”