Reuters - FishbowlNY

Reuters Fires Staffer Accused of Aiding Hacking Group [Updated]

Chris O'Shea — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:27:46 +0000

Matthew Keys, Reuters’ social media editor, has been fired. In March, Keys was indicted by the Department of Justice for allegedly aiding Anonymous, the computer hacking group. Keys was charged with giving computer log-in information to Anonymous, who then used it to hack into the Los Angeles Times.

When news of Keys’ indictment broke, Reuters suspended him. According to Keys, he is now officially unemployed:

Just got off the phone. Reuters has fired me, effective today. Our union will be filing a grievance. More soon.

— Matthew Keys (@TheMatthewKeys) April 22, 2013

Update (5:00 pm):
The Newspaper Guild of New York says Keys was “fired without cause.” Below is the full statement:

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Reuters Sends Paul Ingrassia to London

Chris O'Shea — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:17:20 +0000

Reuters’ managing editor, Paul Ingrassia, is on the move. The company has announced that he will relocate from New York to London, and will be based in Canary Warf.

The Pulitzer prize winning Ingrassia has been with Reuters since 2011. Before being named a managing editor, he served as deputy editor-in-chief. Prior to his time with Reuters, Ingrassia worked for the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones for 31 years.

We’ll probably never know if Ingrassia is actually happy about being shipped to London, but his statement certainly looked on the bright side of things. “Moving to London literally puts me at the geographic centre of the Reuters news operation,” he said. “We face many exciting challenges in 2013 and I am committed to ensuring that Reuters continues to produce groundbreaking and award winning journalism.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Reuters Previews New Website

Chris O'Shea — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:45:41 +0000

There must be something in the air, because over the last week three major news companies have announced that their respective websites were getting updated. It started with The New York Times. Then yesterday The Wall Street Journal revealed a new site was coming. Now have a look at the new Reuters, pictured above.

A couple things we like about the Reuters update: It’s much cleaner and columnists are easy to locate. However, regarding the look, there is only one ad on this preview, so we’ll see how much white space remains in the final version. Another great new feature is a constantly updated feed that includes social media and news.

We don’t know what the Journal has in mind for its new site, but the little we’ve seen from the Times and Reuters has us excited. Because we’re dorks.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Reuters Social Media Staffer Indicted for Allegedly Aiding Computer Hacking

Chris O'Shea — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:41:47 +0000

Matthew Keys, a deputy social media editor at Reuters, has been indicted by the Department of Justice for his alleged involvement with Anonymous, a computer hacking group. Politico reports that Keys is charged with providing Anonymous members with log-in information to Tribune Company computer servers.

According to a DOJ release, Keys began working with Anonymous when he worked for Fox 40, a Tribune Company network:

Keys identified himself on an Internet chat forum as a former Tribune Company employee and provided members of Anonymous with a login and password to the Tribune Company server. After providing log-in credentials, Keys allegedly encouraged the Anonymous members to disrupt the website. According to the indictment, at least one of the computerhackers used the credentials provided by Keys to log into the Tribune Company server, and ultimately that hacker made changes to the web version of a Los Angeles Times news feature.

Keys’ employment status is currently unknown, but a Reuters employee said his desk was being disassembled and his security pass was deactivated.

The three counts Keys faces each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Jim Roberts Joins Reuters

Chris O'Shea — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:00:39 +0000

Jim Roberts, one of the more veteran New York Times journalists to accept a buyout, is joining Reuters. Roberts had been with the Times for 26 years, most recently as assistant managing editor. At Reuters, Roberts will serve as executive editor of Reuters Digital, a new role at the company.

“Jim, who was a masthead editor at the New York Times, brings to this role a unique and ideal combination of new and traditional media skills and experience,” said Reuters digital editor, Chrsytia Freeland, in a note to staffers.

Roberts joins Reuters February 25. Freeland’s full memo is below.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Reuters Promotes Two

Chris O'Shea — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:30:53 +0000

Reuters has promoted two staffers. Details below. Both will be working out of Reuters’ London office.

Ossian Shine, most recently sports editor, has been named global sports editor. Shine has been with Reuters since 2006, and was responsible for overseeing all of Reuters’ London Olympics coverage.
John Pullman has been named global editor, Reuters Video News. Pullman most recently served as head of news output. He has been with the company since 2010.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Most Popular FishbowlNY Stories for the Week

Jerry Barmash — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:52:40 +0000

Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.

1. NRA President Attacks The Journal News, Gawker, for Publishing Gun Owners’ Information, January 10

2. Top New York Times Editors Prepare for Shakeup, January 11

3. Chris Christie Upset About His Time Cover, January 14

4. Cover Battle: GQ or Time, January 10

5. Layoffs Hit Reuters, January 15

6. Rupert Murdoch is Puzzled by Women’s Fall, Assumes She’s Poor and Abusing Welfare, January 16

Keep up-to-date with the latest FishbowlNY news. Click here to sign-up for the FishbowlNY daily newsletter, bringing you our articles each afternoon directly to your inbox.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Layoffs Hit Reuters

Chris O'Shea — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:34:18 +0000

Company wide layoffs have hit Reuters. According to Talking Biz News, the cuts come from all departments, including editorial, sales and training.

Reuters confirmed the news, but didn’t say how many staffers were let go.

“Similar to efforts across the company, the Reuters organization is focusing attention on our global cost structure as well as the need to simplify and ensure we have the skills and expertise within our organization so we can continue to contribute maximum value to the business and our customers,” Barb Burg, vice president and global head of communications, told Taking Biz News.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Reuters Creates Integrated Business Unit

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:51:59 +0000

Reuters is forming a new business unit which is essentially a combining of existing editorial and news-centric sales and marketing operations.

As part of the shift, Stephen Adler, editor-in-chief of Reuters, will run the business unit and add “president” to his role. Steven Schwartz will also become managing director for Reuters’ News Agency. Schwartz was most recently head of Reuters’ media strategy, marketing and business development.

“With our editorial and media-business operations under one roof, we will be able to enhance both the creation and marketing of our world-class journalism, to benefit our professional and media customers and all our readers and viewers,” said Adler, in a statement.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

News Corp. Denies Interest in The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune

Chris O'Shea — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:39:05 +0000

Both The Los Angeles Times and Reuters have said that News Corp is currently in talks to acquire the Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune. And both, according to News Corp., are wrong. “Reports that News Corp. is in discussions with Tribune or the L.A. Times are wholly inaccurate,” Julie Henderson, a spokesperson for the company, told Bloomberg News in an email.

The LA Times reported that News Corp. is in talks with the debt holders of Tribune Company (parent of the LA Times and Chicago Tribune). Those holders will become majority holders of the company when it emerges from bankruptcy.

Reuters has updated their report, saying that their source redacted info. The LA Times is sticking by its claim.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Reuters Makes Editor Changes

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:50:45 +0000

Reuters has named Rob Cox editor of Reuters Breakingviews, a service that delivers breaking financial news that was acquired by the company in 2009. Cox was a founding editor of Breakingviews and was most recently leading its American edition. In his new role, Cox will now oversee a team of of 30 financial columnists.

Cox will succeed Hugo Dixon, the editor and founder of Breakingviews. Dixon will now be an editor-at-large for Reuters News, contributing a weekly column. Prior to starting Breakingviews, Dixon spent 13 years at The Financial Times.

“As founders and editors, Hugo and Rob have built Breakingviews into a groundbreaking platform for financial commentary and an invaluable asset to our customers and readers around the world,” said Reuters News’ editor-in-chief, Stephen Adler. “We’re thrilled to have Rob as our new leader and to have Hugo continuing to provide his insight to our customers through his weekly column.”

Both changes are effective January 1, 2013.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

News Corp. Falls Out of Top 25 Media Earners List

Chris O'Shea — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:00:59 +0000

According to a new study from SNL Kagan, News Corporation’s bottom line dropped so far in the second quarter that it’s no longer one of the top 25 media company earners. The company reported a net loss of $1.5 billion during 2Q, compared with a $683 million profit during 2Q of 2011.

In News Corp.’s number two spot is Reuters, with $935 million net profits. Disney once again topped all media companies, pulling in $2 billion.

The full list is available here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Reuters’ Deputy Social Media Editor Was Addicted to Twitter

Chris O'Shea — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:30:20 +0000

Twitter can be a great tool, unless you let it take over your life. That’s the lesson Reuters’ deputy social media editor Matthew Keys has finally realized after tweeting over 46,000 times. In an interview with Adweek, Keys said that he decided to unplug from Twitter because he had become obsessed with it.

Don’t believe that someone can become addicted to Twitter? Check out this quote from Keys:

I found myself staying awake until midnight or 1 or 2 in the morning and then having to come in to work the next day exhausted, unable to focus. The wheels kept spinning even when the machine was exhausted. In this industry, that’s been known to happen. But for me, it was happening a lot. That’s not healthy for anyone, and a lot of things suffer because of it. Your work suffers, your relationships suffer. You start using the platform to have meaningful interactions with people, and you substitute it for the meaningful interactions you could have in person. You put a lot of things on hold or on a delay or skip out on them altogether, and sometimes you have to in order to get the job done. But if you’re constantly doing it — and I was constantly doing it — that’s not healthy.

If you didn’t already know Keys was referring to Twitter, you’d think he was talking about gambling, drugs or anything else that is known to destroy people. Hopefully Keys’ indefinite break helps him deal with the problem.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Reuters Hires Caveman to Write Headlines

Chris O'Shea — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:42:08 +0000

What can we say? The new hire at Reuters — a caveman from the Paleolithic Era — was a risky move, but he is doing fantastic work so far.

A tipster told us he still spends a lot of time yelling at the water fountain and he tried to eat a desk last week, but we’re sure things will smooth out if he keeps these great headlines coming.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Paul Lienert Joins Reuters

Chris O'Shea — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 09:27:53 +0000

Reuters has named Paul Lienert its new Detroit bureau chief. Lienert has an extensive background in the automotive industry.

He has held various editorial positions for such publications as Automotive News, Autoweek, Road & Track, Motor Trend and Car and Driver. Lienert was also the auto columnist for the Detroit Free Press for 10 years and the Detroit News for 13 years.

See below for the memo from Jim Gaines, welcoming Lienert to Reuters.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.