Reuters EIC Adler: We need to be more transparent in our coverage

Reuters must be more transparent in how it covers stories, editor in chief Stephen Adler said in an interview with The Drum.

Ian Burrell of The Drum writes, “In an interview with The Drum, Stephen J. Adler, the president and editor-in-chief of Reuters, sets out how the organisation plans to ‘double down’ on efforts to win greater public trust by being ‘more transparent’ in its news-gathering methods, allowing readers to ask questions of reporters and showing greater detail on sourcing. ‘It’s a time to double down on being unbiased and being careful and being dispassionate good journalists,’ he says.

“Adler lists a series of measures which he says will ‘open the door a little bit more’ on the way that Reuters obtains its information. He talks of ‘Q&As with journalists; a little more methodology; even sidebars [on] how we got the story. I think it’s not enough that people know we are a trustworthy news organisation, we should also show them what we do.’

“Just as importantly, news organisations in general need to be quicker to acknowledge their errors, he says. ‘You correct your errors quickly and prominently, you call people back when they tell you you made a mistake. you sometimes call the head of an organisation and say ‘hey, we messed that up and here’s how we are fixing it.’ The more ethical the behaviour is, the more we earn the right to be trusted.'”

Read more here.