Thomson ReutersEric J. Shelton/Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corp. is making changes to its newswire service, with plans to focus more on investigative journalism and analysis, and a batch of big-name hires - including the former head of one of its largest competitors.
With the announcement on Tuesday, Stephen Adler, who was appointed editor-in-chief of Reuters News in February, gave the first indications of his ambitions for the expansion of the division's news content.
His new executive team includes deputy editor-in-chief Paul Ingrassia, the former president of Dow Jones Newswires and a Pulitzer Prize-winning financial journalist. Mr. Adler also brings on board Jim Gaines, who was the managing editor of People, Time and Life magazines, and corporate editor at Time Inc. He will now become ethics, standards and innovation editor with Reuters.
The company is now accelerating its plans to bring more commentary and analysis to its news service - a change in the media division's culture that began with the acquisition in 2009 of site Breakingviews.com. Reuters Breakingviews provides financial commentary in addition to the news it transmits to clients. That type of content will now be expanded beyond business topics.
Reuters is also moving into investigative journalism, and Mr. Adler is working to reshape the news division of Thomson Reuters to make use of the data the company collects in its other corporate pursuits. Thomson Reuters provides information services for the financial, legal, and health care industries. Mr. Adler plans to encourage more data mining to originate stories for the newswire. Heading that project will be Reginald Chua, former editor-in-chief of The South China Morning Post.
Mr. Adler is also splitting the organization of Reuters News, making the division's operations the responsibility of new chief operating officer, to allow other executives to focus on content. Stuart Karle, a former general counsel at The Wall Street Journal, will be the new chief operating officer.
Last week, as part of the company's push for more digital news delivery, Mr. Adler announced his first hire, with the appointment of Chrystia Freeland as editor of Thomson Reuters Digital. She will be responsible for managing content on Reuters.com and the company's other websites and mobile device applications.