Monday 1 August 2011
Global editor Sean Maguire, pictured, called it quits on Monday, saying “My time is done” as he closed a 21-year career with Reuters.
Maguire, global editor, political and general news since 2007, made his name covering the Yugoslav conflict and the economic transformation of eastern Europe in the 1990s.
“There is a finale to even the most spectacular Reuters career and today it is my turn to bow out, as you’ll have seen from the official announcement,” he said in an e-mail to colleagues. “It’s a bittersweet moment, but one that I knew would come eventually. I have no illusions, but nor have I any regrets.”
Maguire started as a duty news organiser – “the lowest of the low” – for Visnews. “I finished as a global editor, high enough up the greasy pole to know that when you start to slide the slipway heads to the exit.”
He said he had collected his share of scars, mostly mental. “Others paid more dearly. I remember well the friends I lost unnecessarily – Taras Protsyuk and Kurt Schork – and others such as Hugh Pain and Corinne Dufka, who limped away to testify to the riskiness of reporting.”
Maguire said every generation of journalists thinks it is the pinnacle of the profession. “But I’ve seen enough departures to know organisations endure, regardless of who leaves them, and that new blood is what keeps an editorial organism healthy. What survives are the values at the core of what Reuters does – fidelity to the truth, bravery in reporting, inspiration in thinking and indomitable enterprise in encounters with the challenges facing our industry.
“It’s not a very complicated set of commandments, but they are hard to live up to.”
Deputy editor-in-chief Paul Ingrassia put Maguire’s departure in the context of editor-in-chief Steven Adler’s restructuring of editorial. “With Steve’s reorganization and the creation of a network of regional editors reporting to me, Sean felt the moment was ripe to move on.”
Monday 28 September 2009
Sean Maguire completed his half marathon in London at the weekend ahead of his target time and raised £1,125 for charity – with more contributions to come.
His official time was 1'44:04. Maguire, editor, political and general news, ran in memory of Nick Doughty, former diplomatic correspondent who died in June 2003 aged 42 after a year-long battle with cancer.
Doughty's widow, Reuters colleague Caroline, is chairman of WAY, a British foundation for people who are widowed under age 50.
● CLICK to visit Sean Maguire's charity run page.
● WAY Foundation
Sean Maguire gets ready to run in memory of Nick Doughty
Wednesday 23 September 2009
Sean Maguire, editor, political and general news, is getting ready to run a charity half marathon this weekend in memory of Nick Doughty, former diplomatic correspondent who died after a year-long battle with cancer.
Doughty, pictured below, was just 42 when he died in June 2003, leaving his Reuters colleague Caroline with daughters Ellie, 3, and Laura, 1.
Caroline is now chairman of WAY, a British foundation for people who are widowed under age 50.
Maguire, pictured right at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, set himself a target of raising £750 for WAY and has already burst through that mark with more than £1,000 pledged so far.
● CLICK to support Sean Maguire's fund-raising effort by making a donation.
● WAY Foundation
