NEW YORK  Reuters news agency has reversed course and now says it will sell time on its giant Times Square video billboard to the United Methodist Church, The Associated Press reported.
The matter arose when the Methodists signed a contract through an agency to run a series of ads during the Thanksgiving season. Citing its long-standing policy against accepting religious or political advertising, Reuters nixed the deal.
Reuters' position was unpopular among religious liberty and free-speech groups, such as the National Council of Churches, which issued a statement sharply criticizing the news service.
"To imply that religious and political speech might be in the same class with messages that are ‘pornographic… libelous, misleading or deceptive in nature,' as Reuters did in explaining its refusal to carry the United Methodist ad, is a frightening use of the power of media ownership," the council statement read.
"The fact that 17 broadcast and cable networks and scores of local TV stations have already carried the United Methodist ad is evidence enough that the problem is not with the ad  it is with Reuters' policy."
In a letter to the church, the news agency's chief executive now says the Methodists deserve the same access to the giant billboard as commercial advertisers  and that perhaps the company should accept any ads, as long as they aren't confused with Reuters' news coverage, the AP reported.
