REUTERS WITHDRAWS INTERPRETATION OF TUDJMAN'S QUOTATION

ZAGREB, Feb 3 (Hina) - On Wednesday, Reuters withdrew its interpretation of a quotation from Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's speech, which the British agency gave in its news item issued on Tuesday. Today Reuters broadcast the corrected version of Tuesday's news item which had read that "in his annual state of the nation address in January President Franjo Tudjman spoke of the cases against Sakic and her husband as the West's 'renewed manipulation of NDH crimes', dismissing them as political pressure on Croatia." At the very beginning of the correction, Reuters stressed that Tudjman made no mention of the Nada and Dinko Sakic cases in his speech of January. The Zagreb office of Reuters correspondents on Wednesday forwarded to Hina a statement saying that "Reuters did not fabricate or invent any quote from the president's speech." "Mr Vinkovic has got his facts wrong. Reuters did not fabricate or invent any quote from president's speech," read Reuters' statement referring to a statement of President Tudjman's public relations secretary, Tihomir Vinkovic, given to Hina on Wednesday. "Reuters interpreted the president's reference to the 'renewed manipulation of NDH crimes' as a reference to the Sakic case. It later withdrew this interpretation," Reuters' statement said. Vinkovic told Hina that he was indignant at the extremely unprofessional, fabricated and incorrect "quotation" from President Tudjman's address to the Croatian Parliament. It is clear to everybody who heard President's speech that President Tudjman made no mention of the Sakic case, Vinkovic told Hina. At the end of its statement forwarded to Hina, Reuters said that "Dr Zuroff was commenting on the president's accusations of manipulation of NDH crimes and nothing else." (hina) jn ms