Media critic Shafer leaving Reuters

Media critic Jack Shafer is leaving Reuters, reports Erik Wemple of The Washington Post.

Wemple writes, “Freeland left Reuters in mid-2013 to run for a seat in the Canadian Parliament. At the time of her departure, she was managing director and editor for consumer news and the champion of a pricey and troubled project — ‘Reuters Next’ — to launch the news service into the 21st century with a fancy, consumer-oriented Web site. In September 2013, Reuters CEO Andrew Rashbass killed Reuters Next on the rationale that it ‘is a long way from achieving either commercial viability or strategic success. In fact, I believe the existing suite of Reuters.com sites is a better starting point for where we need to go.’

“The abandonment of Reuters Next brought about a great number of departures from Reuters and raised questions about where the organization is headed digitally. Thomson Reuters bills itself as the ‘world’s largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms.’ Despite all its scoops on business and finance, it has had trouble figuring out how to adapt key business products — subscriptions and financial information terminals — to the digital age.

“So Shafer’s departure ends something of an oddball marriage. His columns, stocked with historical references, occasionally sharp-edged and particularly authoritative on topics ranging from plagiarism to media moguls, didn’t quite fit with the feel of a wire service. (He is a friend of the Erik Wemple Blog). He came to Reuters from Slate and will hopefully find a platform on a similarly oriented site.”