Hi,
This is a very interesting take on news and the value of it in this modern world. In my role in Media, I work with the most respected broadsheets and tabloids (!) and they are increasingly demanding the 'fluff' news and pictures to fill their pages and their online sites. I agree that this is a reflection of the economic and social prosperity of the more 'developed' nations of the world. I would imagine that the pages of newspapers in Iraq and various countries in Africa - couldnt give a toss what Paris Hilton is up to! They, understandably care more about the current and sometimes life threatening issues in their worlds.

Good and accurate writing and reporting most definitely have an important place in our world and we need to ensure that the freedom of press is upheld and maintained and Reuters has an important role in ensuring its continued role in the global media.

I would also say that to have a broad news agenda is the best way to ensure Reuters maintains and grows it premier position in the media world. By that I mean placing as much importance on General and Political, sports and entertainment news as we do with financial news. I am hoping to see the Media division overtake the financial divison in terms of revenue derived from news. With billions of potential clients able to be accessed via the internet we have the vehicle and the products to inform, educate, entertain,amuse and, dare I say it, titillate, this vast audience.

Tom, just curious about feedback loops that news provides in democracies, the changes in Venezuela are disappointing to say the least.

The value of financial news is magnified in economies where exchanges are terribly problematic, where governments are inefficient, and where income disparity is huge. In the Philippines where I live and work, people have enriched themselves with exclusive access to information that the public should have had. As I see it, financial journalists who work hard at getting must-have information from the market and making these information accessible to the public are crucial to leveling the playing field, especially in a very small economy like ours.

In my country, there's nothing that correlates ease of life and the tendency to prefer gossip and entertainment. At least as far as our media organization is concerned, hits and page views have been terribly skewed in favor of entertainment and news delivered by pretty people straight out of make-up. Several waves of diaspora have made our online media publication (http://www.inquirer.net) a huge magnet for overseas Filipino workers hungry for news about home. Our readership, measured rigorously every day, is a sharp indicator of what people are reading, what time they are reading news, and how long.

I am a heavy user of Reuters as I develop my organization's content on personal financial planning in a bid to level the playing field between the haves and the have-nots. But while my site has been increasingly showing progress in the last couple of years and hits are getting bigger than tech news and entertainment blogs, the overall figures suggest that despite Filipinos' economic status, they still go for celebrity and gossip. The only explanation I can think of is that they are looking for comic relief at the end of a depressing day, or trying to escape into a world where the choice of outfit is the only serious decision to make.

Be that as it may, there is no rest for journalists. Integrity and availability of serious news -- both financial and political -- is a lofty goal, and journalists just gotta keep going, whether or not people are reading.

In business school, the "value of information" is taught as a critical element in evaluating decision outcomes, typically in decison tree analysis.  In short, information can have a quantifiable value in achieving better decision outcomes.  This is not only true for news in the financial realm, but is also true for scientific research, healthcare outcomes, legal precedents and verdicts (including litigation awards), and other types of professional information.

Assuming approval of the Thomson-Reuters combination by all the appropriate authorities, you may have an opportunity to drive "information value creation" in these other markets as well.

Curiosita

I would say that you are right about the value of serious news although I

am only a teenager I belive in the value of serious news especially financial

news which I follow all the time. My interests are Business/Finance. and

Technology.