Reuters staff overseas told to cut back weekend work

Reuters journalists overseas have been ordered to cut back on weekend working because of staff shortages that have affected handling of news during the week, according to a story on The Baron, a website that tracks Reuters.

The Baron reports, “Bureaus have been instructed to hold down copy. Come September, stories judged to be secondaries, ‘nice to have’ or ‘just in case’ are likely to be spiked.

“‘The reason for the changes is that we now no longer have enough staff to handle the copy flow when we are busiest – Monday to Friday – and so plan to trim our sails at the weekend when things are, generally, quieter,’ London-based head of desk for Europe, the Middle East and Africa Jon Boyle said in a note to bureau chiefs and chief correspondents.

“Four sub-editors will be on duty on Saturdays compared with eight now and there will be a total of seven on Sundays (plus someone from the Top News team and probably one or two contractors). By way of comparison, Asia desk has just two people each weekend day.”

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