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REUTERS INSTITUTE ANNUAL REPORT ’13-’14
REUTERS MEMORIAL
LECTURE
‘Paying the Piper: Rethinking the
Economics of Newspaper Journalism’
by Mark Thompson, President and Chief
Executive of the New York Times Company.
In a time of gloomy predictions of the
death of print, Thompson argued that news
organisations can develop forward-thinking
solutions to increase their relevance and
revenue and suggested that the recent
acquisition of the Washington Post by Jeff
Bezos – one of the world’s wealthiest and
brightest entrepreneurs – was an indicator of
an emerging era of innovation and profitability.
‘In the age of Twitter, classic editorial
standards about sources and fact
checking, balance and only going with
something when you are sure are at even
more of a premium then they used to be’
Mark Thompson, President and Chief
Executive of the New York Times
THE FUTURE OF
JOURNALISM
Chair: David Levy
Panellists: Mark Thompson
(President and Chief Executive of the
New York Times Company),
Natalie Nougayrède (Executive Editor,
Le Monde), Peter Barron (Head of
Communications and Public Affairs,
Google), John Stackhouse (Editor-inchief,
Globe and Mail, Toronto),
Nic Newman (Digital Media Strategist
and Research Associate, RISJ)
The future of journalism in the context of
the digitisation of the media was explored
by a panel of key figures in the print and
digital news media industry. In contrast to
the apprehensive tone characterising similar
discussions in recent years, the panellists
were largely optimistic about the future of
journalism, emphasising the opportunities
that the increasing and accelerating
digitisation of the media presented for
traditional news publishers.
‘Unarguable that the Future of
Journalism is one of optimism’
Peter Barron, Google
‘The most important thing for
providers of high-quality journalism is
to keep their identity, while adapting
to the changing context.’
Natalie Nougayrède, Le Monde
JOURNALISM AND
THE ARAB SPRING
Chair: John Lloyd
Panellists included: Prof. Naomi Sakr
(Author of Transformations in Egyptian
Journalism), Luke Harding (Fellow, UK),
Firas Khatib (Fellow, Palestine),
Abdalla Hassan (Fellow, Egypt)
The panellists highlighted a number of important
dimensions to journalism in this context,
including the current state of domestic media
in the Arab Spring countries, the role of new
sources of information (the social media and
smartphone technologies) and the problems
present in Western reports on the subject.
‘The smartphone has become
central for both the rebels and the
regime supporters’
Luke Harding
WOMEN IN JOURNALISM
Chair: Monique Villa (CEO, Thomson
Reuters Foundation)
Panellists: Suzanne Franks (Professor,
City University), Sue Lloyd Roberts
(Special Correspondent, BBC),
Laura Saarikoski (Fellow, Finland)
What is the role of women in journalism
Women have contributed to the profession in
so many ways and yet often have to contend
with being props to their male counterparts,
at times receiving lower salaries and being
forced to suffer significantly earlier retirement
ages than in most other professions. The
panellists explored the common and deeprooted
problems of women journalists
working in various organisations and
countries with a special focus on Suzanne
Franks’ new RISJ Challenge, Women in
Journalism (see page 47).
‘Cultural change taking place
in regards to women in journalism’
Suzanne Franks, Professor,
City University
REPORTING THE
EURO CRISIS
Panellists: Robert G. Picard (RISJ
Director of Research), Cristina Marconi
(Fellow, Italy), Vadim Makarenko
(Fellow, Poland), Steve Schifferes
(Fellow and Professor of Financial
Journalism at City University)
This panel explored a number of issues
around reporting the euro crisis, including
the overall role of journalism, event-driven