British government secretly backed Reuters in ’60s and ’70s

The British government secretly funded Reuters in the 1960s and 1970s at the behest of an anti-Soviet propaganda unit linked to British intelligence, reports Guy Faulconbridge of Reuters.

Faulconbridge reports, “The extent of influence – if any – that the government was able to exert over Reuters news in return for the money is unclear from the documents, which detail a 1969 secret British government financing deal for Reuters.

“However, the documents illustrate the level of involvement the government once had in Reuters’ affairs and the explicit agreement to conceal the financing.

“Earlier on Monday, the BBC published a story about the government funding. here

“’Many news organisations received some form of state subsidy after World War Two,’ David Crundwell, a spokesman for Reuters said.

“‘But the arrangement in 1969 was not in keeping with our Trust Principles and we would not do this today,’ said Crundwell, referring to the Reuters Trust Principles, designed to preserve the news agency’s integrity, independence and freedom from bias.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.