Media must find own path to prosperity - David Schlesinger

"We need to stop thinking about a division between new media and traditional media," he told the Chinese news agency Xinhua in an interview ahead of the world media summit to be held in Beijing on 7-10 October.

Schlesinger said media organisations that consider themselves "traditional" face significant changes in their business models and in the reading or viewing habits of their audience.

Therefore, all media organisations - if they are to survive and prosper - must use good journalism, technology and new techniques to engage with their audience and stay relevant.

Asked about the challenges Reuters is facing, Schlesinger said the financial crisis has been a dominant factor this year.

"It has been an important and exciting story to cover, and it has also affected all of our clients, whether they are in financial services, in the media or individual consumers," he added.

Reuters, the first foreign news agency to operate in China after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, has 24 correspondents stationed in the country with a much larger local support team working on the ground.

Schlesinger first visited China in 1979. He joined Reuters as a correspondent in Hong Kong in 1987. From 1989 to 1995 he managed editorial operations in Taiwan, China and the Greater China region. ■