Thanks to innovative work, Reuters proves it’s more than just a wire service
As you walk into the Thomson Reuters building at 3 Times Square, the chaos of the lit-up New York City block outside fades away. But, once you emerge from the elevators onto the floor of the Reuters newsroom, the New York City hustle and bustle suddenly reignites.
Reuters works 24 hours, seven days a week covering — simply put — the world. The international news agency doesn’t just cover the surface of topics either, going in-depth on stories and working with sources to be more than just a wire service.
Before entering the vast newsroom — filled with reporters and editors working to get stories published and tips verified - we viewed a pair of large books that lay on two podiums. The books contained photographs and biographies of Reuters employees killed in the line of duty.
The books are not just historical remembrances. They serve to remind us of the danger that journalists can still face around the world.
This cost and risk can be too easily overlooked in an era of “Fake News.” Yet journalists can pay for their life, or their personal safety, while doing their job. Reuters is currently contending with battle the Myanmar government’s arrest of two of their journalists. They have a running clock on their website, highlighting the case, with a special section of coverage detailing their journalists’ imprisonment.
After walking through the newsroom, we moved to a conference room high above the bright lights of Times Square to talk with the Executive Editor for Reuters TV and Reuters.com, Dan Colarusso.
Innovation
Colarusso was energetic, engaging and passionate.
He answered questions regarding the digital side of the company, including Reuters TV, an online video wrap up that allows viewers to choose how in-depth, and how long, they want to go to explore the day’s news stories. Audiences can choose from five minutes to 30 and can even select which specific clips they’d like to watch.
Colarusso said he watches it on his way into the office and enjoys the fact that it’s done by field reporters without the traditional studio anchor.
Evolving success metrics
Part of our discussion included the future of journalism, as it did at most organizations we visited, with much of the discussion gearing toward what determines success. Colarusso said that a big indication of success is no longer unique views and traffic, it’s user loyalty.
With much of journalism going online and a recent surge in sites having paywall-only content, Colarusso said he is not certain that the emerging paid model will last, and questions whether people would be willing (or able) to have multiple paid news subscriptions.
Reuters on Social
Andrew Seaman, a digital editor at Reuters, joined us to discuss the use of social media by the company. He said that the most engaged with pieces on social media were analysis pieces, not hard news.
Reuters has a deal with Twitter to push out stories through Twitter “moments,” a collection of tweets relating to a topic. This has increased engagement.
Since Reuters eliminated audience comments on its website in 2014, the company focuses on the replies on Twitter — and other social platforms — to see feedback from readers.
One benefit of social media, which perhaps we hadn’t considered, but which Seaman and Colarusso both agreed, was that it can help the company catch errors; as well as signpost to stories and drive content to their website, Reuters TV and apps.
Takeaways
During many, if not all, of our meetings during the week in New York City, advice for aspiring journalists was a common theme. At Reuters, that was no exception.
Colarusso gave much of his advice in groups of threes. He said a news company has to be memorable, credible and everywhere in order for it to succeed.
Reuters, which Colarusso said has “speed, straight news and globality,” certainly hits on all three cylinders.
For young journalists, getting into the professional field is daunting and jumping at the chance for any work is tempting.
Colarusso advised not to be dazzled by jobs at big corporations because most entry level jobs are regurgitation gigs, focused on aggregation and rewrites from the wires, and young journalists need to grow credibility as reporters.
It appears for Colarusso that credibility of journalists and journalism itself is vital to success in the modern field. This is especially important given that young journalists will have to continue to deal with the distrust of media by much of the public. Validating sources and being transparent in what we do will be the best way for journalists to gain trust in the public going forward.
