Ex-Reuters editor grilled about moving journalists to India

Chrystia Freeland, a former Reuters editor now running for political office in Canada on a platform of restoring the middle class, was quizzed Wednesday about the wire service’s moving jobs to India, reports Bruce Cheadle of OCanada.com.

Cheadle writes, “Chrystia Freeland was the head of Reuters Digital in New York when Thompson Reuters moved its Toronto digital newsroom to New York and shipped the bulk of its work to the Bangalore operation.

“The December 2011 move put about 25 Toronto staff under Freeland’s supervision out of work, including 17 permanent and five temporary unionized employees. Thomson Reuters won’t say how many employees remain — only that the company has ‘a fully staffed and functioning newsroom in Toronto.’

“‘Ever since I’ve been an editor at different news organizations, legacy newsrooms have been shrinking, and that was something that happened as well when I was at Reuters,’ Freeland said in an interview.

“‘That shrinkage started before I got there and has continued (since she left). We know that is something that’s happening to the news business.'”

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