Thank you, dear readers

One mark of success of any publication is the degree of engagement with its readers. If only by that count alone, The Baron seems to be getting it about right. In the year now drawing to an end, readers weighed in on a wide variety of topics more than 170 times. Naturally enough, many but by no means all messages from readers were tributes to colleagues who have passed on. It was just such a passing that provided the inspiration for The Baron more than five years ago.

Steve Somerville has noted that “... I would argue that The Baron’s obits fulfill an important function for our community of colleagues. Not just nostalgia but a chance to record individual contributions to the Baron’s business and to pay some well deserved tributes, even to re-learn some old lessons from those who led by example”.

Other items on this website that have prompted comment over the past year included ethics, the Trust Principles, job cuts, climate change coverage, reminiscences, and the corporate strategy of Reuters’ parent company, Thomson Reuters.

the statistics show that readership continues to grow apace

Heading into the last weekend of the year and with only four days until a new one begins, the statistics show that readership continues to grow apace. At time of writing, the number of page views for the entire year was almost 473,000. The average per day was more than 1,300. The highest number of page views for any single day was 6,744 on 22 July when The Baron reported that Thomson Reuters was looking at a major restructuring of its news division aimed at producing a sharper news file while cutting back radically on staff and relocating some operations to lower-cost centres. That news was confirmed by subsequent company announcements of cost-cutting and headcount reduction.

The editor has been made aware that some readers turn to The Baron once, sometimes even twice, a day, and there is evidence that many current employees of Thomson Reuters look to it for news of what is happening inside the company. So The Baron is not just for those who have moved on but wish to stay in touch with news of colleagues and the company.

As the New Year beckons following a period of restructuring and redundancies, the editor thanks all those who in 2013 made donations towards sustaining this website, all those who submitted contributions, and wishes all readers the best of health, happiness and success in 2014. ■