The Reuters news agency has removed a four-minute video of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussing the possibility of a person living to 150 years of age.

Source:Reuters

Details:Chinese state television CCTV withdrew legal permission to use the footage and demanded its removal.

The footage was taken during a military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. A microphone picked up this conversation between the leaders.

Reuters edited and distributed the four-minute video to over a thousand international media outlets, including the world's leading television networks. Other agencies licensed by CCTV distributed similar materials.

After CCTV's lawyers requested its take down, Reuters removed the video from its website and sent an official notice to its customers about the withdrawal of the material. The letter stated that the license terms had been exceeded and criticised the "editorial treatment applied to this material," but it did not provide any details.

Reuters withdrew the video because it no longer had legal permission to publish this copyrighted content. However, the agency emphasised that it defends the accuracy of the published content and sees no violation of its standards of impartial journalism.

Chinese state media and the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not reply to Reuters’ request for comment. Nevertheless, the story of Putin and Xi's conversation has already been widely spread in the global media and on social media.

"We stand by the accuracy of what we published. 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," Reuters wrote.

Background:A microphone accidentally recorded a conversation between Putin and Xi during a military parade in Beijing about how to live to 150.

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