Tony Winning and the art of negotiation

Despite his name, Tony Winning used to say philosophically during his career:: “You win some, you lose some.“

He learned the ups and downs of Reuters and the art of negotiation the hard way, from Julian Bates, a tough news executive who had been imprisoned by the Japanese in Shanghai during World War Two. 

Offered his first foreign posting in Brussels, Winning tried to negotiate better terms although he was eager to go. 

“I was asked: ‘Well, do you want the posting or not?,’” he recalled later. “I had to say yes.”

As Europe News Editor during the Yugoslav war in the 1990s Winning made sure Reuter reporters and photographers had the best armoured vests that money could buy. He visited them in the field to make sure they had everything they needed.

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