« Change Will Do You Good | Main | The CEO’s Dilemma; A Year After Lehman’s Demise »
September 3, 2009
Thomson Reuters; Building the Modern Media Company
I had a meeting this morning with Brian Rhoads, managing editor of the Americas, and Martin Howell, editor in charge of companies’ news, of Reuters News. We had a wide-ranging discussion on the competitive landscape, the new demands on the reporters and the business model following Thomson’s acquisition of Reuters. Here are the important comments made by these two senior journalists:
1) Thomson Reuters is shifting how it covers the news, and its global network allows its 2,700 reporters around the world to make connections that other news organizations no longer have the resources to do. “We are pushing for a lot more insightful analysis and greater depth, including enterprise reporting,” Howell said. This reflects an evolution in the balance of the customer base for the company, from the traditional Reuters clientele of foreign exchange traders seeking the breaking news in short form, to a wider clientele including more law firms, hedge funds, mutual funds and financial advisors. Howell was very proud of his reporters covering the Stanford imbroglio, noting that he had sent several reporters to the Caribbean to pursue the story.
2) As one of the largest multimedia news agencies in the world, Reuters is making considerable investments towards repositioning its news in an effort to anticipate the future needs of customers – many of whom are now of the Google/YouTube generation. It is focused on interacting deeply with customers through innovations in multimedia and social media.
3) As part of this effort, the company is re-launching its financial video product. There is an open beta test under the name, Project Insider, which provides the “immediacy of video while giving the manageability of text.” Rhoads went on to say that a fund manager seeking to understand SEC Commissioner Schapiro’s testimony before Congress could highlight that phrase in the text then just clip the relevant thirty seconds of video onto an email to clients. Go to http://etv.thomsonreuters.com to sign up.
4) There is a new emphasis on commentary. Well-known journalists such as Matt Goldstein, formerly of BusinessWeek, are among the columnists. There will be a team of 25 by the end of the year. Primarily based in London and New York, the commentary team also will have a presence in the main emerging economies. It will draw on Reuters unparalleled news coverage from its 200 bureaus around the world.
5) Reporters are being added or shifted to bolster coverage in Washington DC, China and the Middle East. Particular emphasis has been given to financial services, restructuring, health, and greentech. By having a capable staff in Bangalore who is expert in writing headlines, reporters in the U.S. are freed up to pursue more exclusive stories.
6) There is an increasing focus on summits and conferences. Among the topics in coming months are Russia, restructuring and the new business/government relationship.
7) Reuters has been public in its views on the evolving online news industry, often times in disagreement with other big name publishers on issues like aggregation. On Reuters.com, its primarily ad-supported consumer news site, it encourages bloggers and other news sites to link to our content. “Simply put, we believe in the link economy.”
PR people must drop stereotypes about wire services and recognize that Thomson Reuters is now the primary means of reaching 500,000 financial professionals who are subscribers to its terminals or other data services. In fact, they claim that a billion people around the world view their news every day. Make this one of your first stops on tours of media in Hong Kong, London, New York or other global capitals.
Posted by Edelman at September 3, 2009 9:44 AM |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.edelman.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/922
Comments
Looks like it's going to be a terrific new space, Richard, congratulations to you and the NYC team!
Barry
Posted by: Barry Collodi at September 9, 2009 7:30 AM