Reuters has a new editor in chief

David Schlesinger becomes the new Reuters editor in chief, according to a story in the Guardian. He is taking over for Geert Linnebank, who next month will become a senior adviser to CEO Tom Glocer.

Schlesinger is a Connecticut native, and he has degrees from Oberlin and Harvard.

Chris Tryhorn wrote, “The new editor-in-chief has been Reuters’ global managing editor and head of editorial operations since 2003, a period that has coincided with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Mr Schlesinger has been vocal on the issue of protection for journalists operating in war zones, and criticised the behaviour of the US military towards reporters in Iraq.

“He has also driven Reuters’ involvement with ‘participatory’ journalism and user-generated content, including the launch last week of YouWitness, a joint venture with Yahoo! which will edit and distribute images produced by members of the public.

“Mr Schlesinger joined Reuters in 1987 as a correspondent in Hong Kong and went on to run the company’s Chinese reporting operations, before overseeing editorial output in the Americas and then globally from the agency’s head office in London.

“A Chinese speaker, he was responsible for opening Reuters’ Shanghai bureau and launching its Chinese language service.”

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