China relations

Never have so many missteps been perpetrated in such a short time by so many in a new régime. You really need to be a staggering genius to bring an honorable news agency of long standing so low. How indeed are the mighty fallen! The latest prime example is chief executive James Smith’s meeting with China’s consul-general in New York, Sun Guoxiang. According to the Reuters announcement of this “summit” as reported by The Baron [Thomson Reuters commits to bolstering ties with China], Mr Smith “has assured a senior Chinese diplomat that the company is committed to boosting cooperation and economic links to his country”.

What the heck is he doing assuring anybody in China or anywhere else? In tone and content the whole piece reads as if it was issued by China’s state-controlled triumphalist Xinhua, not by a purportedly objective world news agency. The whole affair is only exacerbated by China’s well-honed zealousness in suppressing any publication or blog that strays even slightly from the official line. At a time when Reuters is loudly assuring governments of its support for same sex marriage, how can it give an assurance on anything to a representative of a country that stands so diametrically opposed to Reuters’ fundamental principle of freedom of information and objectivity, its quintessential raison d’être. What on earth were you thinking, Jimbo?

And while we’re at it, if you are going to do something so ill-considered, why perpetrate it with somebody so lowly as a consul-general, not even an ambassador. Come on, Jimbo, this is the guy in charge of issuing tourist and business visas. This “summit” is much less than six degrees of separation from Monty Python. It doesn’t take much of a stretch of the imagination to read: “Reuters chief executive James Smith has assured the first cousin twice removed of the chauffeur to the Chinese honorary consul’s mother-in-law’s niece...” This is truly the Ministry of Silly Talks.

In the old days, Reuters CEO at least set his aim higher. After all, Gerald Long got a decoration - wrongly from the point of view of an objective news agency - from Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. Other top honchos and senior editors were well known for putting their names to interviews with heads of state and government that had been incubated by the grunts on the ground. Then, there was that photo of Peter Job with his guest of honour to Reuters 150th anniversary celebrations in Singapore, that great paragon of freedom of the press Lee Kwan Yew. Lee, though, however much he suppressed free media, was a former prime minister, and in 2001 senior minister. But a mere consul-general? Surely you can do better than that, Jimbo. ■