Reuters editor Adler comments about reorganization

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• If Reuters is lucky, another BusinessWeek is in the making. Will Bloomberg acquire it after he destroys it?

• Great coverage. You should post the full memo, for those of us who want to parse all the details.

• John, below is the full memo.

  Colleagues:

  When I signed on as Editor-in-Chief two months ago, I said I would be taking 60 days to learn as much as I could about Reuters before making any significant changes. In this time, I’ve seen first hand—through our stellar coverage of an amazing run of historic events—just what an extraordinary organization this is. I’ve heard, and I hope I’ve benefited from, a great many opinions and suggestions, and I want to thank you all for your professionalism and your patience.

  Now, as this transition period ends, I’m truly excited to announce a series of appointments and structural changes that will help us achieve the goals I outlined in early February, namely:

  • To distinguish ourselves as the world's leading provider of news and insight;
  • To serve all Thomson Reuters customers across the divisions;
  • To create innovative digital offerings to showcase our work, brand, and values;
  • To tame bureaucracy and clarify lines of authority;
  • To develop a higher profile for our work;
  • To adhere enthusiastically to the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

  Toward these ends, I have streamlined and focused the news operation and assembled a dynamic and accomplished senior team to lead it.

  Separating content and operations is really the heart of this restructuring and will enable us to plan coverage in a more unified and coherent way while strengthening the operations that are designed to support and promote it.

  In this new structure, the existing Global Managing Editor job is essentially divided between the Chief Operating Officer, who will handle operations, support, and logistics; and the Deputy Editor-in-Chief, who will oversee content creation in all media and absorb the responsibilities of Global Specialists Editor as well. Global Managing Editor Betty Wong is leaving Reuters, and I want to thank her on behalf of the entire company for her invaluable contributions throughout her 21-year career here.

  These are the six positions that will report directly to me:
  Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Paul Ingrassia
  Chief Operating Officer: Stuart Karle
  Editor, Thomson Reuters Digital: Chrystia Freeland
  Ethics, Standards and Innovation Editor: Jim Gaines
  Editor, Reuters Breakingviews: Hugo Dixon
  Global Head, Editorial Product : Adrian Dickson

  DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

  Achieving journalistic excellence requires unrelenting, focused attention on the quality and direction of our news file. This will best be achieved when the people writing and editing the file report into a unified structure. So I am thrilled to announce that Pulitzer Prize–winner Paul Ingrassia (bio) will become Deputy Editor-in-Chief, effective today. Paul is a world-class journalist with experience and vision. He served as president of Dow Jones Newswires—with both editorial and business-side responsibilities—from 1998 to 2006. In that role, he modernized the wire and improved its focus on customer needs and journalistic quality. A former Detroit bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, he won his Pulitzer for his coverage of General Motors and has continued to speak and write widely on the automotive industry. Paul will be based in New York and will spend one week a month in London.

  The Deputy Editor-in-Chief will direct news content creation across regions and specialty beats, in text and multimedia. Reporting to him will be:

  • Regional Editors for US and Canada, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia
  • Top News Editor
  • Executive Editor, Professional News
  • Enterprise Editor
  • Editor of Reuters Insider
  • Managing Editor for Television and Pictures
  • Data Editor
  • Editor, Commodities & Energy
  • Editor, IFR, IFR Markets and LPC

  Some notes:

  • The new structure creates the crucial role of Regional Editor, essentially converting the top regional position from one of administration (under the old managing editors structure) to one of news leadership.

  • Executive Editor, Professional News, becomes a key position in Reuters as a result of the integration of the Professional News Center into a united Reuters earlier this month. Amy Stevens, who had most recently served in senior positions at Conde Nast Portfolio and National Public Radio and is a former Deputy Page One Editor at The Wall Street Journal, remains in the top Professional News role.

  • Multimedia is split between Reuters Insider and Pictures and Television. The rationale is that Insider primarily serves financial customers, while Pictures and Television directs its work across our businesses, with a special emphasis on our agency customers. The separation will allow greater focus for each. Pictures and Television will continue to report to Mark Thompson. Reuters Insider will be led by Chris Cramer, who will be charged with expanding its strategic importance with the broader roll-out of Eikon.

  • The reorganization eliminates the global specialist editor roles, thus removing a layer of management. We remain committed to global specialty coverage and will empower the regional specialist editors to work together on stories and issues that cross regions.

  • Never wanting to be accused of a foolish consistency, I plan to maintain global specialist editors when the nature of the market and the needs of a business require it. Richard Mably will continue to lead Commodities and Energy on a global basis. Dayan Candappa will become Editor, IFR, IFR Markets, and LPC as he focuses on integrating and enhancing these products for market insiders.

  • As I have discussed with many of you, I am strongly committed to creating more attractive career paths for journalists who want to continue reporting and writing rather than become managers. Eliminating the tier of global specialist editors will allow us to create senior reporting positions that will enhance our coverage in key areas. This is good for the staff and great for the file.

  • Data Editor is a new position that will enable our journalists to mine Thomson Reuters data more effectively and will improve our graphical presentation of the company’s rich data trove. I’m happy to report that Reg Chua (bio), most recently Editor-in-Chief of the South China Morning Post, will take on this role. Reg actually spent three years as a Reuters correspondent in Singapore early in his career, so we can not only welcome him but welcome him back.

  CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

  Managerial and operational endeavors require as much professionalism as editorial work and demand steadiness, discretion, and great intelligence. It delights me to announce that Stuart Karle (bio), former General Counsel of The Wall Street Journal, will become Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. Stuart wore multiple hats when we worked together at the Journal. He did most of the legal pre-reading of sensitive stories, helped reporters gain access to court proceedings and documents, co-taught the company’s journalistic ethics course, and advised corporate management on a wide range of legal and operational issues. Stuart, who will be based in New York, brings to Reuters a deep understanding of news organizations and a passion for journalistic excellence.

  The Chief Operating Officer will supervise operations, logistics, and safety and will coordinate Editorial’s partnership with the support teams from HR, Marketing, Legal, Facilities, and Finance.

  Note:
  • Regional General Managers (GMs), reporting to Stuart, will perform much of the administrative work previously done by Regional Managing Editors and Cluster Chiefs. The Regional GMs will also work with the Thomson Reuters business units in their regions and represent Reuters at public events and with government officials and institutions, as needed. (Editors will continue to perform business- and public-facing functions when appropriate.) The position of Cluster Chief is eliminated. Many former Cluster Chiefs will become Regional GMs; others may have the opportunity to move into news roles.

  EDITOR, THOMSON REUTERS DIGITAL EDITOR

  As announced earlier this month, Chrystia Freeland, former U.S. Managing Editor of The Financial Times and most recently Reuters Editor at Large, has been named Editor of Thomson Reuters Digital, a role that includes editorial management of Reuters.com and consumer-facing mobile news products.

  EDITOR, ETHICS, STANDARDS AND INNOVATION

  Jim Gaines (bio), one of the world's most accomplished journalists, will join us as Editor, Ethics, Standards and Innovation. Formerly managing editor of Time, Life and People magazines, and the only individual ever to run all three, Jim has worked most recently in the multimedia world, first as editor-in-chief of Flyp, a pioneering online magazine; then as founder of StoryRiver Media, a digital multimedia publishing company. The Editor for Ethics, Standards and Innovation will help articulate and enforce the highest standards for accuracy, fairness, and sound reporting practices while spurring everyone to do more incisive journalism. Because effective training is so crucial to achieving these goals, the Editorial Learning group led by Belinda Goldsmith will now report to Jim.

  EDITOR, REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS

  Hugo Dixon, a global leader in financial commentary and the founder of Breakingviews, will continue as its editor and leading commentator. Hugo began his career at The Economist and spent 13 years at The Financial Times, the last five as Head of Lex. In addition to his other accolades, he was given the Decade of Excellence Award in 2008 at the Business Journalist of the Year Awards.

  GLOBAL HEAD, EDITORIAL PRODUCT

  Adrian Dickson will assume the new position of Global Head, Editorial Product, to ensure that Editorial drives excellence in news products and delivery across customer platforms. Collaborating with the individual businesses, Adrian will work to strengthen every aspect of our offerings, from design, presentation, and functionality to the relevance of the content itself. Adrian, most recently Global Editor, Technology and Transformation, has excelled in reporting and leadership roles in Asia and Latin America during his 22 years at Reuters.

  These are big changes, but there’s no question that we have a great foundation on which to build. David Schlesinger and his leadership team are responsible for much of that, and I’d like to thank them for their generosity, grace, and good counsel during the transition period.

  I know many of you will have questions and concerns about the new structure. I’ll give you two assurances: first, that the leadership team—and I in particular—will listen to your ideas and continue to evaluate the way we operate to ensure that the plans that look good on paper also work on the ground; and second, that my sole goal will be to make us the number one news provider in the world.

  I’m in favor of anything that helps get us there and against anything that gets in the way.

  Many thanks,
  Steve

• and this is the same stephen adler that did nothing to help businessweek; and he's now in charge of reuters. Good Luck with that.

• I am sure,this reorganization just to make corporate malfeasance permanently at Thomson Reuters.
  Stephen Adler will make 'The Great FAKE Reuters Journalism"
  To liquidate Reuters Founder Share and to fire the crook CEO Thomas Henry Glocer are the answers to rebuild Reuters along with to invigorate legal departmen ,currently dominated bu crook lawyers.