Jim Impoco
Doing ‘the happy dance’ at Reuters
Monday 30 January 2012
Some 5,000 copies of the 64-page proof-of-concept publication were printed for Davos and another 6,000 for clients and others.
“I would be very surprised if there wasn’t a print product in our future,” said Jim Impoco, executive editor of Thomson Reuters Digital. “We’re having pretty extensive conversations about it right now …
“We feel there is an opening for a magazine along these lines, a sophisticated, well-designed magazine that doesn’t dumb down” its financial, business and foreign policy coverage, he told The Poynter Institute, a journalism school at the University of South Florida, St Petersburg.
Impoco said the magazine was assembled over about two months, starting in October when editor-in-chief Stephen Adler posed the idea to him.
“Steve Adler and [chief executive] Jim Smith and key players at the company seem to be very excited about it,” Impoco said. “We’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?”
But, Impoco said, “Let’s keep it in perspective … We are digital natives. We believe in electronic news. Every day we do the happy dance because we don’t have a legacy product dragging us down … We are afforded the luxury of trying something like this.”
There’s one thing the magazine is not, said Poynter: the “first-ever” Reuters magazine. “A previous version was discontinued at some point, which Impoco said he just learned on Wednesday.”
● SOURCE Poynter
Blogger disowns 'biased' Reuters report
Friday 14 October 2011
“The article is particularly problematic from my perspective because I’m incredibly proud of Reuters’s long tradition of impartial journalism,” Felix Salmon, pictured, wrote after the article drew a burst of criticism in the blogosphere.
“I’m on the opinion side, not bound by such things, and if you think I’m biased you’re right. (I should mention here explicitly that this post, just like everything else on this blog, is my personal opinion. It may or may not be shared by others within the organization. But it should emphatically not be taken as representing the views of Thomson Reuters.)
“Reuters news stories like the one about OWS are held to a very high standard of integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. And there’s lots in this article which tilts hard to the right," Salmon wrote.
“Reuters cannot — must not — get a reputation as a right-wing media outlet. We have to report the news as impartially as we can. In this case, there was no story, and nothing to report. Inventing a tenuous and intellectually-dishonest link between Soros and OWS might get us traffic from Matt Drudge — but that’s traffic which, frankly, we don’t particularly value or care for. Much more importantly, it serves to undermine the heart of what Reuters stands for. And we can never afford to do that.”
The offending article headed “Who’s behind the Wall Street protests?” began: “Anti-Wall Street protesters say the rich are getting richer while average Americans suffer, but the group that started it all may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world’s richest men.”
Soros and the protesters deny any connection, it said. “But Reuters did find indirect financial links between Soros and Adbusters, an anti-capitalist group in Canada which started the protests with an inventive marketing campaign aimed at sparking an Arab Spring type uprising against Wall Street.”
As adverse comment mounted, editors recast the article with a denial by Soros’s spokesman. Jim Impoco, executive editor for Thomson Reuters Digital, tweeted: “Here’s an update cum clarification of Reuters’ Soros-Occupy Wall Street story.” The update was headed “Soros: not a funder of Wall Street protests”. It began: “George Soros isn’t a financial backer of the Wall Street protests, despite speculation by critics including radio host Rush Limbaugh that the billionaire investor has helped fuel the anti-capitalist movement.”
New York magazine commented: “The wire service and aspiring ‘best journalism organization in the world’ ran an odd story this morning, insinuating that billionaire financier George Soros is secretly funding the Occupy Wall Street protests. The evidence, unlike the innuendo, is awfully thin.”
It concluded: “This story might not be out of place on Fox News, but at Reuters, which has always taken pains to stay above the partisan fray, it smells suspiciously like Drudge bait. (Sure enough, The Drudge Report ran a link to the item, with the headline: “WIRE: Who’s behind ‘Occupy’?”) For a company that “aims to report the facts, no rumours,” an attempt to tie Occupy Wall Street to conservatives’ favorite billionaire boogeyman feels poorly thought-out, at best.”
Among reader comments on the Reuters report:
● “Yellow journalism at its finest. Shame on Reuters.”
● “Yet more evidence that editorial standards at Reuters continue to hit new lows.”
Media commentator Jay Rosen examined the story – in all its versions – in detail and remarked: “Reuters vs. Reuters: News agency makes an ass of itself by trying to connect George Soros to Occupy Wall Street.”
● SOURCE Felix Salmon | Reuters | New York | The New York Observer | Eqentia | Poynter
Reuters kills high-flyer's debut column
Wednesday 13 July 2011
“David Cay Johnston is having a rough day at work,” The Atlantic Wire reported. The veteran business reporter, pictured, who won his Pulitzer at The New York Times, filed his first piece as a Reuters columnist about News Corp making money on income taxes. He said News Corp received more in tax refunds over the past four years than it paid in taxes. The company had an effective tax rate of -43 per cent and collected over $10 billion in tax refunds over the past four years, Johnston wrote.
That turned out to be incorrect. “Not just an embarrassing typo or a little bit off, but totally, absolutely wrong,” The Atlantic Wire said. “A full correction is coming soon, and it will detail how, exactly, Johnston misread a News Corp. financial statement but for now there’s this posting on Reuters’ Mediafile blog: ‘Please be advised that the David Cay Johnston column published on Tuesday stating that Rupert Murdoch’s U.S.-based News Corp. made money on income taxes is wrong and has been withdrawn.’ Which to any journalist reads as one big ouch.”
“This is particularly painful,” Johnston told The Atlantic Wire. “I have been at this for 45 years. I have never, until now, had to do anything like this. I am assiduous about correcting the record.”
Jim Impoco, executive editor for Thomson Reuters Digital, tweeted: "Can’t withdraw my tweets but will post DCJ’s mea culpa soon: David Cay Johnston column on News Corp taxes withdrawn.”
In a replacement column, Johnston wrote: “Readers, I apologize. The premise of my debut column for Reuters, on News Corp's taxes, was wrong, 100 percent dead wrong.” He made no excuses for what he called “a bonehead error”.
“Tax is my beat, and I was simply looking for what the record showed since Mr. Murdoch is much in the news these days. Some of his British journalists hacked into voicemails, paid off cops and interfered in a murder investigation. Having a long career writing not just about tax, but also about journalistic misconduct, I wondered if there was anything of interest in News Corp's annual disclosure reports...
“I often write tart notes at the Romenesko blog for journalists, the Columbia Journalism Review, Nieman Reports and elsewhere about what I consider flawed reporting by others. I lecture to young reporters around the world on the duty of care they need to take with facts and teach how to check and cross check. Until now I have never made a big mistake, but this is a painful reminder that we all put our pants on one leg at a time. The measure of character, I say in my posts and lectures, is whether when an error is found you forthrightly and promptly correct.
“So I hope readers will trust that while I made a whopper of a mistake, it has been corrected forthrightly and promptly.”
● SOURCE The Atlantic Wire | NPR | ABC News | Reuters
Reuters extends move into social media
Thursday 07 July 2011
Reuters has appointed a new social media editor with the aim of extending the brand, bringing more people to the ● Reuters.com website, and making Reuters the most recognisable name in news.
Jim Impoco, executive editor of Thomson Reuters Digital, said the new editor, Anthony De Rosa, was “a product manager and technologist” who had turned a side project into one of the most potent social media platforms around.
“Called ‘The undisputed King of Tumblr’ by the New York Times, De Rosa is creator of ● soupsoup.tumblr.com, which is among the top 25 of the over 2.3 million tumblogs tracked by Compete. NBC New York has chosen him as one of the top 20 people to follow on Twitter,” Impoco said in an internal announcement on Wednesday. Tumblr is a micro-blogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to a short-form blog.
De Rosa “will integrate what he calls the ‘ambient wire’ that exists on social networks, where news now breaks before anywhere else, into Reuters platforms,” Impoco said. “As part of his mission, he will help our journalists and editors use social media tools to monitor news, report news, and find leads.”
Under his direction, social media “will extend our brand, bring more people to ● Reuters.com, and make Reuters the most recognizable name in news”.
Impoco also announced the appointment of Paul Smalera as deputy op-ed editor. He has joined Reuters from ● Fortune.com, where he was a senior editor responsible for technology coverage and special projects including the online presentation of the Fortune 500. He will commission and edit opinion and commentary pieces.
● SOURCE Reuters
Jim Impoco, executive editor of Thomson Reuters Digital, said the new editor, Anthony De Rosa, was “a product manager and technologist” who had turned a side project into one of the most potent social media platforms around.
“Called ‘The undisputed King of Tumblr’ by the New York Times, De Rosa is creator of ● soupsoup.tumblr.com, which is among the top 25 of the over 2.3 million tumblogs tracked by Compete. NBC New York has chosen him as one of the top 20 people to follow on Twitter,” Impoco said in an internal announcement on Wednesday. Tumblr is a micro-blogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to a short-form blog.
De Rosa “will integrate what he calls the ‘ambient wire’ that exists on social networks, where news now breaks before anywhere else, into Reuters platforms,” Impoco said. “As part of his mission, he will help our journalists and editors use social media tools to monitor news, report news, and find leads.”
Under his direction, social media “will extend our brand, bring more people to ● Reuters.com, and make Reuters the most recognizable name in news”.
Impoco also announced the appointment of Paul Smalera as deputy op-ed editor. He has joined Reuters from ● Fortune.com, where he was a senior editor responsible for technology coverage and special projects including the online presentation of the Fortune 500. He will commission and edit opinion and commentary pieces.
● SOURCE Reuters
Reuters taps top WSJ editor for global role
Monday 02 May 2011
Editor-in-chief Stephen Adler, announcing the appointment to staff on Monday, described him as “a great conceptualiser, manager and editor of deeply insightful, agenda-setting stories” who “brings a truly global perspective that will resonate especially well with Reuters readers”.
Adler, who spent 16 years at the Journal, said Williams was a gifted teacher and mentor who would work closely with journalists throughout the organisation, across beats and regions, “to produce the meaningful, high-impact journalism that our customers require”.
He replaces Jim Impoco who becomes executive editor of Thomson Reuters Digital, a job that involves integrating online, mobile and digital properties with the wider news operation. Impoco is a former editor at The New York Times where he helped redesign and relaunch the Saturday and Sunday business editions. Previously he worked at Fortune magazine, Condé Nast’s Portfolio, The Associated Press, and U.S. News & World Report. He joined Reuters in September 2009.
Last month Adler, who became editor-in-chief in February, brought two top WSJ executives into Reuters – Stuart Karle, former general counsel, as chief operating officer, and Reginald Chua, former editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal as data editor.
● SOURCE Reuters
