WORLD’S GREATEST PRESS AGENCY

Evening Star, Issue 23383, 28 September 1939, Page 7

WORLD’S GREATEST PRESS AGENCY

REUTERS MOVE THEIR HEADQUARTERS RECORD OF EXPANSION The opening of the new building of the world-famous Reuter’s News Agency in Fleet street is an event of outstanding importance in international journalism. Into this glistening white structure, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, president of the Royal Academy, news is now flowing in an endless stream for 24 hours a day. There it is sifted, sub-edited,and flashed all over the world. The graceful exterior conceals nine floors of stream-lined efficiency, where all the latest devices are used to tell the world what is doing as rapidly and accurately as possible. The work of transferrin" R-cutei-s from its old quarters on the Thames Embankment near Bladkfriars was accomplished in stages, various departments moving at intervals of a day or so. Although a 24-hour-a-day service had to be maintained all the time without a break, there was no hitch. Almost as if out of respect for the organisation which ha 6 reported its doin"s faithfully for nearly a century, the world behaved itself unusually well on the day selected for moving the editorial department, and for once there was very little news to handle. House and post office telephones on scores of desks “ came alive ” at the pre-arranged moment. The more vital direct lines to the central telephone office, Faraday House, through which Renter correspondents all over Europe transmit their news to headquarters, also began to function as arranged. So did the battery of teleprinters with which instantaneous contact is maintained with the various cable companies, tape machines, and other delicate and complicated apparatus, entailing hundreds of yards of insulated wiring and numerous switchboards. Renters have occupied six buildings since their foundation nearly 100 years ago. Each has marked a stage in the growth of the organisation from a pigeon post service to the world’s most widespread international news organisation. .. Some time in the 1840 s, Julius Reuter —later the rich and famous Baron de Renter —had a house in Aix-la-Chapelle. He made this the headquarters of his carrier pigeon service between that city and Brussels, and this marked the birth of the agency. At that time Reuter, a young hank dork, had noticed that the bankers and merchants were largely dependent upon the market prices which came from Brussels every day. He, therefore, inaugurated a pigeon post service

between Aix-la-Chape!le, the starting point of the German telegraph system, and Brussels, the terminal of the Runs line. By this means he overhauled the mail coach link between the two telegraph terminals and got the prices through to all the big German towns before anybody else. Later Julius Reuter crossed to England and established his head office in London, becoming a naturalised British subject. This office —it was then 1851— occupied a small room in the Royal Exchange building. Subsequently the agency was moved to Lothbury, still in the city, and at the end of the Franco-Prussian War, during which Reuters gained great prominence, they moved into premises in the Old Jewry. In this Dickensian atmosphere the agency rose to fame and wealth.

During the war the expansion of the agency—the main, almost the only channel for the telegraphic presentation of the British case in every part of the globe from hour to hour — strained the accommodation greatly. But under the direction of Sir Roderick Jones, who is still chairman and managing director of Reuters, the staff devoted themselves uncomplainingly to the efforts they were called upon to make.

In 1923 Reuters moved to the Thames Embankment near Blackfrairs, but expansion continued unabated, and soon additional accommodation had to be found for certain departments elsewhere. Meanwhile Reuters bad become allied with the Press Association of the United Kingdom, the largest collectors and distributors of home news. The Press Association also found they had outgrown their existing premises, and it was decided to erect a new building for the joint use of both agencies. Sir Roderick Jones, _ who has throughout been the inspircr of this building, was instrumental in securing the services of Sir Edwin Lutyens to design the elevations. These are of fine proportions, the facade on Fleet Street combining dignity with simplicity, and the structure as a whole is a striking addition to modern architecture in London. The equipment inside is_ designed to help the staff to work without undue fatigue at the high speed demanded or all present-day news organisations—and particularly agencies. The system of working has been so perfected that it is now an everyday occurrence, tor example, for Now York market quotations to reach Bombay and other centres via the Reuter centre in London exactly one minute after being posted in New York. Similar feats are performed with general news. The pace is so hot. indeed, that to be five minutes ahead with important news is considered a real “ scoop.” This forms a curious contrast to some of Reuter’s famous early successes. The agency was two whole days ahead with the relief of Mafeking; it was a Reuter message which sent Loudon delirious with joy and led to the coining of the word “ mafficking. They were seven days ahead with the nows of the assassination of President Lincoln, thanks to the enterprise of their New York correspondent.

At that time there were, of course, no transatlantic cables. News dispatches from America had to bo carried by mail packets. The boat had actually left New York Harbour when the death of the President became known, imt Pouter’s ro"’-e«ucvideul chased it in a tugboat and threw oa board a canister containing Ins message. It is very difficult to find a newspaper in any part of the world which does not directly or indirectly make use of Reuter’s services, owing to the close alliance which they have with other agencies everywhere. The k'" - ”ote in the planning of the new building has been speech But even more important to than speed are accuracy and impartiality. During the Great War Renters’ reputation for impartiality enabled them to play a valuable part in presenting the British cause to the world. By maintaining this tradition at the present time, when there is so much propaganda masquerading as truth, Reuters should be able to help towards a better international understanding. That is why the opening of the new headquarters is a matter of much more than merely journalistic interest.