Reuters in row with Guardian over story about the news wire's business reporting

Posted by Dana Goldstein on June 18, 2004 at 10:59 AM

From Media Guardian: Last week, Media Guardian reported that Reuters business correspondents were being pressured to back away from investigative reporting by their employer after the news wire was investigated by Britain's Financial Services Authorities as to how they obtained information on retail sales figures before it was officially released. Read our posting here. Now, Reuters Editor-in-Chief Geert Linnebank has written a sharp letter to the Guardian defending his firm's ethics. "Reuters has a worldwide reputation for providing accurate and reliable news. It's a great shame that your reporter did not apply the same journalistic standards," Linnebank says.

"We train our journalists in the legal aspects of reporting news, including defamation and legal constraints on market-sensitive information. Most serious media organisations run courses to ensure their journalists understand the law and do not break it. Far from attempting to limit scoops, this training is actually designed to help us break more stories, but also to make sure we do this legally and ethically." The fact remains that the original Guardian story quoted anonymous Reuters employees saying they felt discouraged from doing hard-hitting reporting after a presentation by legal consultants. We'll see if the Guardian continues to follow this story.

Source: Media Guardian

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