DALLAS (Reuter) A selfstyled smokers' rights
group threatened Thursday to kill journalists
because of what it said was a media conspiracy to
turn the United States into a tobaccofree
society.

The ``Smokers' Rights Action Group,'' in a fax
sent to the Reuters bureau in Dallas, charged that
journalists were deliberately lying about the
economic cost of smoking to society.

``Because there is no process for the protection
of our rights, ultimately you media will have to
be dealt with by assassination. This notification
is so you cannot pretend that you don't know the
reason why,'' the group said.

It was not clear whether the threat was an
elaborate hoax.

A woman identifying herself as Carol Thompson, a
group member, said politicians were also to blame
for the rise in antitobacco sentiment but that
her group would first target the media.

``I am informing you that if we can't get justice
through the law, this is how it will have to be,''
she told Reuters by telephone from Madison,
Wisconsin.

Thompson said the group sent similar threats to
other news agencies and large newspapers and would
first execute ``somebody important'' in
journalism, but declined to give further details.

``No timetable set yet, no people set yet,'' she
said, adding that her group had half a dozen
active members and was allied with others across
the country.

Thompson said the claim that smokers are an
economic burden on the rest of society was a
``filthy stinking lie.''

She said all peaceful efforts to educate the
public had been blocked by politicians and the
media and that ``direct action'' was now needed,
``especially in view of Timothy McVeigh. He
seems to know how to get people's attention.''