Principles and power

Congratulations on the revealing Ellemann-Jensen interview [Principles and power: an inquiry].

As evidence that Reuters was “going down the drain” and potentially incapable of sustaining the Trust Principles, E-J says he was struck by the disappearance of Impressionist art from the boardroom and decamping from 85 Fleet Street. Actually both developments, early in the Glocer era and long before the sale to Thomson, were symbols of the resurgent new Reuters under new management sweeping the recent past into the dustbin of history.

The sale to Thomson may well have been the right course of action in 2008. An agreed sale renewing the Principles which created a much bigger, more diverse information company may well have averted a number of potentially worse outcomes. We cannot know. It was not, however, a fire-sale to a fairy godmother which you would conclude from E-J’s remarks.

Like nuclear weapons, some powers are best left implicit or potential and not used in anger. This has probably always been the case with the Founders Share Company powers. A well run, growing business is a much more important underpinning of their values. ■