'Nasty nocturnal shifts' go as Reuters merges regional desks

“Note: we aren’t eliminating jobs, just most of the nasty nocturnal shifts,” Paul Ingrassia, deputy editor-in-chief, said in a message to staff ahead of the change. The London desk will open at 6:00 am London time year-round.

The London and New York desks will handle each other’s overnight copy from the Americas and Europe, the Middle East & Africa and monitor broadcast and online media across the Atlantic for breaking news.

Reporting lines are reorganised to bring all desk staff under three newly-appointed heads of desk – Matthew Tostevin in London, Ciro Scotti in New York and Jean Yoon in Singapore. A new desk has been launched in Sydney. The heads of desk will coordinate teams of specialist chief desk editors. Reporters will file copy to just two baskets – Money, Politics & General News, and Companies & Commodities – but these will not be in place from day one.

“Our goals are to raise the bar for copy editing, rewrite and headlines and become the most vibrant desk operation in the business. We want the desk to offer a career path rich in opportunity,” Ingrassia said. “One of the most exciting changes is the creation of multimedia ‘hubs’ in each region – a cluster of desks where the regional text editor and her/his deputies will sit with journalists from our pictures, video, online and graphics operations. The aim is to foster greater collaboration across the teams and generate richer multimedia packages for our professional and consumer products. You’ll soon see these hubs start to take shape in London, Singapore and New York.

“Together, these moves will create a strong, independent desk that elevates the quality of our journalism and reinforces the checks and balances of the Trust Principles.” ■