Reuters on Thursday refuted the claim of Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque that he was given a limited time to respond to the questions of the international news agency.
鈥淭he claim that Reuters gave the President鈥檚 office just an hour to respond is untrue,鈥� the news outfit said in a statement.
Roque has cried foul and accused Reuters of 鈥渂ad journalism鈥� following its detailed report on the killings carried out by the so-called 鈥淒avao Boys鈥� in the narcotics unit of the Station 6 of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).
Roque claimed that he was given an ultimatum of just an hour to respond and give Malaca帽ang side on the report.
鈥淪he (Reuters reporter) gave me an ultimatum of one hour. I did not meet the ultimatum. And therefore, I would not comment on the story because that鈥檚 bad journalism. You don鈥檛 write a story and give government a timeline to respond, otherwise, they will go ahead and publish a story. I thought that was really foul,鈥� he said in a Palace briefing.
The Palace official found it 鈥渁rrogant鈥� that Reuters did not wait for Malaca帽ang鈥檚 comment.
But Reuters belied Roque鈥檚 claim.
鈥淩euters sent questions to the president鈥檚 office a week before the story was published and the president鈥檚 office confirmed it had received them. Reuters followed that up with phone calls and emails, but the president鈥檚 office never responded to our questions,鈥� it said.
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