Reuters' Wong one of most influential women in the business

Although she is not as commonly recognized as some of her journalism colleagues, Betty Wong, managing editor of Reuters America, is one of the most influential women in American business journalism.

That is the opinion of Dean Rotbart, host and executive producer of NewsTalk 870 KRLA’s Newsroom Confidential, the weekly Southern California radio show that provides listeners an insider’s guide to journalism and public relations. The one-hour live program is also available throughout the week as a digital rebroadcast at www.newsroomconfidential.com.

On this week’s edition of Newsroom Confidential, Rotbart salutes Wong, who was recently honored with the Reuters America Diversity Award for her efforts to encourage diversity among the 650 reporters and editors she supervises in both North and South America.

Wong, 42, has been with Reuters for more than 16 years, the past two as managing editor. Among her many responsibilities is oversight of the $100 million annual news budget.

In an effort to bring diversity to the Reuters newsroom, Wong has helped oversee a summer internship program and she and her staff regularly attend professional meetings and job fairs around the country in an effort to identify and recruit minority journalists.

“I don’t believe in tokenism,” Wong tells Newsroom Confidential. That said, she explains that she aims to create a newsroom environment where everyone feels welcome and thereby is attractive to “the best people no matter what their background.”

Read more here. In the interest of fair disclosure, I have a minority student interning with Reuters in New York this summer. She is among the top journalist students at UNC.