Colin Bickler
The last Morsecast
Thursday 15 March 2012
Re the Morse anniversary [Reuters last Morsecast transmission ended on 31 March 1973] - Morse was used from Bangkok, too, in the sixties. It had to be carefully monitored when sending from the General Post Office there which I thankfully discovered accidentally before I got into trouble. We had to take the copy to the GPO from the office and stay while a one-hour tape was punched and sent. The danger of not waiting was demonstrated one day as I watched a UPI transmission being sent. The operator unwound the tape, fed it in backwards and upside down, which meant that whoever was listening at the other end received just a mass of gobbledegook! Apparently UPI had omitted to leave that week’s tip!
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Reuters either. At least one one-hour transmission disappeared into the ether because the Bangkok office forgot to warn Singapore, where it was monitored, to listen out. Unless specially set up, there was only one transmission a day. An urgent story meant an expensive cable, which was not encouraged except in exceptional circumstances. A real problem, since at that time, AP already had telex.
Colin Bickler
nbnbn
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Reuters either. At least one one-hour transmission disappeared into the ether because the Bangkok office forgot to warn Singapore, where it was monitored, to listen out. Unless specially set up, there was only one transmission a day. An urgent story meant an expensive cable, which was not encouraged except in exceptional circumstances. A real problem, since at that time, AP already had telex.
Colin Bickler
nbnbn
Erdmute Greis-Behrendt
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Erdmute’s great contribution will be long held in the archives, I hope. She was one of our stars when we made the video “When the Wall came down”. Her joy in re-enacting for the camera how she rushed up the stairs to send her first “snap” from the press conference announcing the end of the Wall, was a delight. “Imagine, I had never sent a snap before,” she told us of her excitement and nervousness.
And it was also a major scoop to mark her dedication! Annette told us that snap was the first news the West German government received, as well as a first round the world. As the video remarked “We were first with the Wall going up and first with it going down,” thanks to her as well as the expat correspondents. The next step was to tell her family, who left for the wall. But she added that even when telling them she could hardly believe it and she stayed at her post. Her role in the video encapsulated not only what was best of Reuter staff in these circumstances but the reaction of so many of the East Germans at regaining their freedom of movement.
Colin Bickler
nbnbn
And it was also a major scoop to mark her dedication! Annette told us that snap was the first news the West German government received, as well as a first round the world. As the video remarked “We were first with the Wall going up and first with it going down,” thanks to her as well as the expat correspondents. The next step was to tell her family, who left for the wall. But she added that even when telling them she could hardly believe it and she stayed at her post. Her role in the video encapsulated not only what was best of Reuter staff in these circumstances but the reaction of so many of the East Germans at regaining their freedom of movement.
Colin Bickler
nbnbn
Ronald Farquhar
Wednesday 20 April 2011
I never worked with Ronnie Farquhar but I recall that when John Freeman and I were working on the 1972 breakthrough union agreement, Ronnie was one of two senior overseas correspondents we uncovered who had slipped through upgrading in the company’s secret grading system. Getting the system into the open helped both of them jump up the scale which even an embarrassed management thought he deserved.
Colin Bickler
Colin Bickler
Bill Hartley
Wednesday 20 April 2011
I was sorry to hear of Bill Hartley’s passing. If I recall correctly Bill was at one time the thankless editor of one of Reuters' unsung but highly popular special services – Top of the Pops, compiled weekly both nationally and internationally. Working on Focus desk, he did enthusiastically what the rest of us thought was a right chore! His reward: one of the most used services, especially in Asia. But it brought little if any special revenue except Reuter recognition, so it was dumped after a couple of years, to be taken up within weeks by Associated Press!
Colin Bickler
Colin Bickler
Anthony Grey
Friday 19 March 2010
Reading the review of the new Grey diaries [● Making the best of it – Anthony Grey’s China ordeal in the ‘raw’], reminded me of the great and failed Reuter deception in which I had to take part. I suspect it was arranged for two reasons – one good and the other perhaps just Reuters trying to keep the scoop for itself.
Anthony's release was obviously of great interest to the media, especially Fleet Street, and London was keen, of course, to get him home. But there was concern about his state of health and mind after the long confinement. Though I understand he himself had indicated he was fine, the Peking embassy expressed some concern about his state; so everyone became protective. I was in Kuala Lumpur at the time and was advised by head office that among the options of smuggling him out (plane connections being limited at the time) without exposing him to newshounds, apparently was via Cambodia and KL. Another was obviously Hong Kong and several routes from there. I was put on alert to receive him with strict instructions not to let anyone know, especially not the voracious hacks from the Street, who were working out the possibilities for themselves. I was bombarded by the man from the Express and others and had to pretend that I had no idea what was going on. Others gathered in Hong Kong. Finally, the plan was to take him through Pakistan. And the best laid plans ... the hacks had worked it out and managed to book on the same plane and got their interviews.
One other footnote – at several postings thereafter, the office used to be visited by the resident or visiting Hsinhua rep who always made the point of apologising for what happened to Anthony.
Colin Bickler
Anthony's release was obviously of great interest to the media, especially Fleet Street, and London was keen, of course, to get him home. But there was concern about his state of health and mind after the long confinement. Though I understand he himself had indicated he was fine, the Peking embassy expressed some concern about his state; so everyone became protective. I was in Kuala Lumpur at the time and was advised by head office that among the options of smuggling him out (plane connections being limited at the time) without exposing him to newshounds, apparently was via Cambodia and KL. Another was obviously Hong Kong and several routes from there. I was put on alert to receive him with strict instructions not to let anyone know, especially not the voracious hacks from the Street, who were working out the possibilities for themselves. I was bombarded by the man from the Express and others and had to pretend that I had no idea what was going on. Others gathered in Hong Kong. Finally, the plan was to take him through Pakistan. And the best laid plans ... the hacks had worked it out and managed to book on the same plane and got their interviews.
One other footnote – at several postings thereafter, the office used to be visited by the resident or visiting Hsinhua rep who always made the point of apologising for what happened to Anthony.
Colin Bickler
