Freedom from bias

“When Radio Prague says ‘according to Reuters’ we know that for once it is telling the truth.” This comment from a Czech playwright I met in the early 1960s made me proud of the news agency I worked for. Now I’m glad I don’t work for Thomson Reuters – which seems bent on erasing all the standards and tradition carefully nurtured for such a long time [Thomson Reuters comes out for UK same sex marriage bill]. At the time of the merger/takeover I said that I joined Reuters to escape from the Thomson organisation (based on regular face-to-face meetings as NUJ FoC of The Scotsman with Roy Thomson, who built the Thomson organisation on his opportunistic purchaser of the newspaper. I don’t think any of the organisation’s present journalists would get within speaking distance of his descendant.

Yours, in fear and sorrow, ■