Towards Reuters newsroom of the future

The review was announced days after the October spin-off of Thomson Reuters’ financial and risk division as a standalone business called Refinitiv. A by-product of that deal - a multi-billion dollar investment by private equity - was Reuters emergence as a full profit and loss business.

Editor-in-chief Stephen Adler (photo) said at the time the review aimed at making Reuters "faster, smarter, more flexible and more effective”.

Since then, editorial leaders have sought staff input and deployed to the project working groups of journalists “from every part of our multi-region, multi-media, multi-customer organization, and reviewed all available data on usage and customer preferences,” Adler said in a joint message with Alessandra Galloni, global news editor, and Simon Robinson, regional editor, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

They have focused on achieving three overarching goals: to enhance the quality of Reuters journalism, improve the agency as a place to work, and provide more value to its customers.

Through the process, five critical areas where a meaningful difference could be made were identified. Working groups concentrated on editing, led by Kevin Krolicki; integrating visuals and text news planning, led by Mike Caronna; technology, led by Jonathan Leff; balancing regional and global operations, led by Arlyn Gajilan; and talent, led by Mari Saito.

All the working groups have now met for two- or three-day intensive sessions in New York, London or Singapore. All the feedback “is extraordinarily positive”.

The teams have been creative in challenging the status quo and in offering bold ideas, the editors said, and the leadership team is eagerly looking forward to hearing their recommendations in the next few weeks.

“Then we will move quickly to implement agreed-upon improvements in how we work, in the interest of our journalism, our journalists, and our customers.” ■