As part of a long-standing series of lectures by statesmen and other prominent speakers called Reuters Newsmakers, Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke at Reuters this past week on “Leadership in the Media Age.”  See Photo in Gallery.

The Prime Minister said little of controversy other than politely pointing out that it had become very difficult to govern under the intensely pressured, always-on news cycle.  He went on to acknowledge that his own Labour government spin-meisters had contributed to this situation, but refused to take 100% of the blame.  Instead he sought answers on how to make this government/media pas a deux work better for future governments.

In many reports over the succeeding 24 hours, the media grabbed the following quote somewhat out of context:

“…the fear of missing out means today’s media, more than ever before, hunts in a pack.  In these modes it is like a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits.  But no-one dares miss out.”

I did not hear the attack that the thin-skinned among the audience claimed.

Friday, the Daily Mail, who in my mind truly deserve the term feral pack on a daily basis, wrote:

“To the horror of his journalists, chief executive Tom Glocer 47, applauded extravagantly Tony Blair’s speech attacking the media as a ‘feral beast’.  My source at the event says: ‘Reuters is one of the most famous names in the news business.  Yet Glocer was clapping wildly.  His own journalists were embarrassed.’”

Was it a similar lack of independence when I applauded Michael Howard, the former Leader of the Opposition, when he appeared at a Reuters Newsmaker in 2005?  The Reuters Trust Principles, which set out the standards by which we at Reuters seek to report and conduct our business, require independence and  freedom of bias, not rudeness.