Bindi Irwin slams Hillary Clinton editors over essay

SYDNEY (AFP) – Teenage conservationist Bindi Irwin, daughter  of late “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, has revealed her shock that an essay  she penned for Hillary Clinton was edited so heavily that her words were  “twisted”.

Iriwn, 14, was reportedly invited to write for US Secretary of State  Clinton’s e-journal about why she had chosen to work in wildlife conservation  and wrote 1,000 words that largely focused on the issue of overpopulation.

File photo shows Bindi Irwin, daughter of Steve Irwin, reads a tribute to her father at a memorial service for her father..EPA

But she told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph that when the piece had been edited  and returned to her for approval, it had been altered so much she felt she had  to withdraw it from publication.

“When I got the essay back after they edited it, it was completely  different,” the newspaper cited her as saying.

“I hadn’t said anything they had put in… my words were twisted and  altered and changed. I was a little bit shocked to tell you the truth.”

Irwin’s essay described Earth’s expanding population and the planet’s  struggle to support it, using the simple analogy of a child’s birthday party in  which 15 people were invited and catered for and 70 turned up.

During the edit, however, the overpopulation issue was airbrushed.

“I was really sad and I think it was more frustration because I’m trying so  hard to get the message across and I guess some people don’t want to listen,”  she said.

Her mother Terri Irwin, who has been raising her daughter and nine-year-old  son Robert alone since her husband died during a freak accident in 2006, said  the edited version was withdrawn from publication at Bindi’s request.

“It’s interesting that she was asked to write an essay about the  environment and included the consideration of population (growth) and they  returned her essay edited and completely edited that out,” Terri Irwin said.