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<title>RSS Feed</title><link>http://www.thebaron.info/index.html</link><description>Mail to The Baron</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><dc:rights>Copyright &#xa9; 2008-2010 The Baron &#x25cf; All rights reserved</dc:rights><dc:date>2012-02-02T17:29:12+08:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
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<lastBuildDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:55:56 +0800</lastBuildDate><item><title>Not a feel-good story</title><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><category>Stephen Adler</category><category>Howard Luxenberg</category><dc:date>2012-02-02T17:29:12+08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/741d3837d4e03c286296fc5a24138327-514.php#unique-entry-id-514</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/741d3837d4e03c286296fc5a24138327-514.php#unique-entry-id-514</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Stephen Adler&rsquo;s position as editor-in-chief is not a feel-good story.&nbsp;  A year into his job, he has managed to eliminate a wealth of talent and shred a reputation that has been built on trust and integrity.&nbsp;  In its place comes his award-winning crew, mostly with ties to The Wall Street Journal&nbsp;where Adler himself had spent 16 years before moving on to Business Week.   Interestingly, his hand-picked team, which displaced a group of well-respected, long-time editors and reporters, is building its own reputation &ndash; none of it in the proud tradition of years past.   Unfortunately, the errors mount and, worse, the corrections are cumbersome and attracting attention for all the wrong reasons.   The announced reorganization of global news desk operations looks more like a cost-cutting measure rather than a step to address the inaccuracies flowing from his prized news team.


Howard Luxenberg


nbnbn]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Thomson Reuters Trust</title><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><category>Trust Principles</category><dc:date>2012-02-01T23:13:51+08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/6fe2a7038163b1061876ca6aa03be3e2-513.php#unique-entry-id-513</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/6fe2a7038163b1061876ca6aa03be3e2-513.php#unique-entry-id-513</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[With all these editorial changes and the moves to the US, the crazy corrections and what appears to be slipping editorial standards,&nbsp;what&nbsp;role&nbsp;does the Trust have any more?


&nbsp;


Colin Bickler


nbnbn]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Missing the point</title><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><category>Paul Booth</category><dc:date>2012-02-01T10:40:33+08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/4847471a9a92c55708e2940ad7bba025-512.php#unique-entry-id-512</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/4847471a9a92c55708e2940ad7bba025-512.php#unique-entry-id-512</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Perhaps I am missing something.   But should not real journalism be sharp, to the point and crystal clear to a lunatic?   Diamond clear.   All these Charles Hawtrey and Hattie Jaques US-style corrections [● Multiple corrections on US story earn Reuters a black mark] are bound to confuse editors in Bangladesh, Beirut and Bahrain.   Kill, kill, kill is the only way.   Oh, and shout the story out as you ride pass the bus queue too!


Paul Booth


nbnbn]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Multiple corrections</title><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><category>Mike Rhea</category><dc:date>2012-01-31T22:58:02+08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/5aed4a9ae0650848cc6cacabb0447f6e-511.php#unique-entry-id-511</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/5aed4a9ae0650848cc6cacabb0447f6e-511.php#unique-entry-id-511</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I call it the &ldquo;term paper&rdquo; syndrome [● Multiple corrections on US story earn Reuters a black mark].   An alleged reporter with an agenda determines whether to heap praise on a politician or do a &ldquo;hatchet job&rdquo; in the morning.   Then he or she spends the rest of the day gathering supporting evidence.   If the evidence isn&rsquo;t there, the reporter uses &ldquo;congressional aides&rdquo; or some other term to insert his or her own opinions.   I recognized it on the desk, sanitized it when possible and questioned it to no avail.   It is a corrupt and repulsive practice.   The way to eliminate it is by managers refusing to accept blind sources.


 


Mike Rhea


nbnbn]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>&#x2018;Happy dance&#x2019;</title><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><category>Jim Impoco</category><category>Malcolm Bain</category><dc:date>2012-01-31T22:01:19+08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/b1977e32750db7b580e2dd8b11b7438a-510.php#unique-entry-id-510</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/b1977e32750db7b580e2dd8b11b7438a-510.php#unique-entry-id-510</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[&ldquo;We&rsquo;re sort of making this big consumer-facing push, and what better to hit people with than a lush magazine that you can sort of cuddle up with?&rdquo;   [● Doing &lsquo;the happy dance&rsquo; at Reuters].


But, Jim Impoco said, &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s keep it in perspective &hellip; We are digital natives.   We believe in electronic news.   Every day we do the happy dance because we don&rsquo;t have a legacy product dragging us down &hellip; We are afforded the luxury of trying something like this.&rdquo;&nbsp;


No wonder they make so many mistakes in news items these days [● Multiple corrections on US story earn Reuters a black mark].   What on earth does the above mean in plain English?   Personally I have never tried cuddling up to a magazine and the mind boggles at the thought of them all having a &lsquo;happy dance&rsquo; every day just because they don&rsquo;t have a legacy policy dragging them down.


Malcolm Bain


nbnbn]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Desk shake-up</title><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><category>Paul Holmes</category><dc:date>2012-01-29T22:01:00+08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/60cb0d0453386772184606d79a30d21b-509.php#unique-entry-id-509</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/60cb0d0453386772184606d79a30d21b-509.php#unique-entry-id-509</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Any announcement [● Reuters editorial desk shake-up in drive for quality] that volunteers the defensive and unsolicited statement that a reorganisation is &ldquo;not about saving money or cutting staff&rdquo; should be taken as a piece of fluff.&nbsp;  Reuters journalists are expected to see through such announcements when they come from the companies they cover so it is not clear why they shouldn&rsquo;t see through this one.


Why should anyone believe this announcement when it says that the reorganisation of&nbsp;Reuters desks will improve quality when the only steps it specifies are shutting overnight shifts and moving more routine tasks to cheaper locations?&nbsp;  The rest is puff.&nbsp;


Good organisations always look at ways to be more efficient and effective, as they should, but improvements to quality come from giving people the skills and incentives they need and making sure you have enough of the right people to do the job well.&nbsp; 


It&rsquo;s especially troubling that the announcement, which purports to come from the heads of the desks in Asia, the Americas and EMEA, contains a split infinitive, tautology and a non-sequitur, and uses &ldquo;between&rdquo; where it should use &ldquo;among&rdquo;.&nbsp;  Perhaps the announcement was vetted by a third-rate PR firm.&nbsp;  It certainly reads that way, bullet points and all.


Paul Holmes


nbnbn]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Ronald Farquhar&#x2c; &#x27;Jock Zero&#x27;</title><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><category>Ronald Farquhar</category><category>Phil Davison</category><dc:date>2012-01-26T11:54:20+08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/338650d3f3534e7aaa925b12c4c88eb9-508.php#unique-entry-id-508</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/338650d3f3534e7aaa925b12c4c88eb9-508.php#unique-entry-id-508</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Being wayward in my contacts with The Baron, I read only a few days ago of the passing of Ronnie Farquhar last April.&nbsp;  I have to get on the record what Ronnie&nbsp;meant to me.


I was posted to Geneva in 1976 and Ronnie was the chief corr.&nbsp;  My dear friend Peter Hulm (who had given me my first overseas job seven years earlier&nbsp;at the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation) made up the trio of correspondents.


Ronnie and I both being Scots, we addressed each other as &ldquo;Jock Zero&rdquo; (Ronnie) and &ldquo;Jock One&rdquo; (me).   Having fought in the war &ndash; his face was badly burnt from a tank battle, but he never ventured to talk about it and I never dared to ask &ndash; Ronnie was to be&nbsp;respected.   &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be long,&rdquo; he&rsquo;d say, with that ironic frowny-smiley thing,&nbsp;when I asked if I could nip down the corridor for a coffee (the Press Bar at the Geneva Palais des Nations).&nbsp;  When he realised I was hanging out with the dreaded opposition (a UPI correspondent called Arlette Baudet whose office was two doors down (only TASS and the Swiss news agency ATS were between us, as I recall),&nbsp;he&rsquo;d give me that look &ndash;&nbsp;twinkly-eyed, though &ndash; as though I was fraternising with the enemy.


&nbsp;


As it turned out, he was instrumental in convincing Arlette that,&nbsp;although I wasn&rsquo;t a quarter the journalist I liked to think I was, and I was a Jock, marrying me wouldn&rsquo;t be a total disaster.&nbsp;  (Whether he was right or not is a matter of debate but we did marry and Arlette remains the love of my life).


Ronnie and Vera were mentors to Arlette and me&nbsp;and our visits to their home, or meals together by the lake, are vivid memories.


I can see, as though &ldquo;live&rdquo; and in HD, Ronnie walking up the corridors of the Palais &ndash; maybe coming from &ldquo;Human Frights&rdquo; (officially known as the UN Commission on Human Rights) &ndash;&nbsp;shuffling his wee feet like a ballet dancer, then putting up his fists as though he wanted to spar.&nbsp;


Workaholic: he, Peter and I could be in the office into the wee hours.&nbsp;  Funny to think of it now, since, to be honest, nothing ever happened in the Palais.&nbsp;  Arlette and her chief corr at UPI,&nbsp;John Callcott, would be out of the office and in the Press Bar at 6.


&nbsp;


Lovely man, Ronnie.   War hero.&nbsp;  And God knows what I&rsquo;d have become without watching, listening and learning from him.


&nbsp;


Miss you, Jock Zero.&nbsp;


Don&rsquo;t be long ...


Phil Davison


nbnbn]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Desk shake-up</title><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><category>Mike Rhea</category><dc:date>2012-01-26T12:47:55+08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/6861350e0908c2f799f98b3786f5e7e9-507.php#unique-entry-id-507</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/6861350e0908c2f799f98b3786f5e7e9-507.php#unique-entry-id-507</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In my less than humble opinion, any desk problem in my 31 years was based on the elements of hiring and training [● Reuters editorial desk shake-up in drive for quality].   Individuals were singled out and promoted by managers too lazy to read their raw copy.   Some sub-editors demanded that copy fit their political leanings.   Few understood that copy did not need to be changed in order to be edited.   Good reporters and writers should be allowed their styles.   I would hope that sub-editors would remain in two pools.   In some cases, single skill business writers were both helpless and hopeless in handling general news.


Mike Rhea


nbnbn]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Reuters 100&#x25; American?</title><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><category>Malcolm Bain</category><dc:date>2012-01-24T20:38:34+08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/73f3d5aacf9b6e438e96da75805c7f12-506.php#unique-entry-id-506</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/73f3d5aacf9b6e438e96da75805c7f12-506.php#unique-entry-id-506</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It seems to me that Reuters has become 100 per cent American.   If one looks at their top ten news items one notices that nine out of ten are usually news about the US.   One gets more world news from the US news agencies and television.   I appreciate this may have something to do with the current election but surely most of the world is only interested in the end result, not the nitty gritty of local election antics.


Has anyone else noticed this trend?


Malcolm Bain


nbnbn]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Reuters &#x27;the acme of foreign corresponding&#x27;</title><dc:creator>editor@thebaron.info</dc:creator><category>Sandy Gall</category><category>Tony Cole</category><category>Paul Smurthwaite</category><dc:date>2012-01-19T02:07:00+08:00</dc:date><link>http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/b418b907677afd5c8f85c167dcb6ab4f-505.php#unique-entry-id-505</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.thebaron.info/mail_files/b418b907677afd5c8f85c167dcb6ab4f-505.php#unique-entry-id-505</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Sandy Gall, the former ITN anchor who began his international reporting career with Reuters, was touchingly full of praise for the Baron&nbsp;on BBC Radio Four's&nbsp;Midweek programme today.   He described&nbsp;Reuters as &ldquo;the acme of foreign corresponding&rdquo; because of its high standards of accuracy and impartiality and said he believed this was still the case.


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In his 1983 autobiography, Don't Worry About the Money Now, Gall wrote of his foreboding as he entered the swing doors of 85 Fleet Street&nbsp;for a job interview in 1953.&nbsp;  In the event, company secretary WS Carter appeared interested only in Gall&rsquo;s sporting interests and not much else.   He was hired on a salary of just over &pound;400 a year and spent&nbsp;10 years with the Baron, reporting on the Suez crisis, the Hungarian revolution, the Kenyan Mau Mau conflict and the Congo war.   The title of his book referred to a pre-posting briefing from editor Tony Cole during which Gall timidly asked about a pay hike.   Cole drawled: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry about the money now, old boy.   Keep in touch, so long.&rdquo;&nbsp;


Paul Smurthwaite


nbnbn]]></content:encoded></item></channel>
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