adrian monck

Thomson buys Reuters

Thomson buys Reuters. And whilst we all expect decency to prevail, I can’t help thinking that the first line of the Reuters Trust is this:

that Reuters shall at no time pass into the hands of any one interest, group or faction

Thoughts anyone?

Adrian Monck

2 responses to “Thomson buys Reuters”

  1. This is actually great news for the free world. To claim, as many news outlets have been doing for decades, they are not controlled by any particular group or interest is odd given that, if nothing else, a Board of Directors is itself a group of people with their own ideas and self-interests. Keeping them insulated from outside pressures is more likely a formula for corruption than it is a formula for objectivity, good journalism, or creating products and services that the public needs and likes. Incidentally, for those of you who think the monarchy is dead here in the States, I’d note that the most common barriers that supposedly have been ensuring “journalistic independence” have been dual-stock structures that give the descendants of the founders the majority of the voting shares even though they own a tiny fraction of the company on a financial basis. Britain has had its share of ineffective Kings, and the NY Times now has one of its own, “Pinch” Sulzberger, who by virtually all accounts (especially stockholders) is destroying a once-great institution. At least in private, market-competitive hands one knows that Reuters will be under financial pressure to keep news consumers happy, and this cannot be done without attracting great journalists. (Steve Boriss, The Future of News)