DATELINE: HONG KONG

We are saving money we would normally spend on floor space and will plow it back into the editorial operations: Rodney Pinder speaking on Reuters departure from Hong Kong.

In the first major media move since the handover, the British based Reuter newsagency is shifting its Asian base of operations from the former colony of Hong Kong to the Republic of Singapore. About fifty journalists' positions will be re-located. Rodney Pinder, Reuter's Asia News editor, will be one of those moving house.
Pinder: We made the decision to move last December. The central production desk will move, that is the text sub-editing desk which handles all of the Asian copy from our bureaux, the TV production desk which processes a lot of the news video from throughout Asia and the picture production desk. We'll be moving to our own building in Science Park in Singapore. It is already the headquarters for southeast Asia and is the base for the Managing Director for the whole of Asia. The Asian editor is based there and the Singapore reporting bureau is based there. Our Editors in Charge, that is specialist editors supervising specific sectors of our reporting such as equities, commodities and energy or foreign exchange, are all based there.

Knight: Why leave Hong Kong?

Pinder: We have the space there. It's free. It's in our own building The floor became empty because another tenant moved out. It was seen as a saving on what we were paying in rent which could then be spent in other fields such as reporting through out Asia. We are saving money we would normally spend on floor space and will plow it back into the editorial operations.

Knight: Is Hong Kong that much more expensive as a place to operate?

Pinder: Well it's considerably more expensive than free. The attractions of that are overwhelming. Singapore is also cheaper in other respects. The rent for accommodation for expat staff is cheaper. I understand there's not much difference in wages paid to deskers.

Knight: Is the timing, just after Britain's handover to China, a co-incidence?

Pinder: The decision was made some time before that. This is something that Reuters has been thinking about for some time. Hong Kong costs are quite considerable. We moved out to Taikoo Shing from Central because of the horrendous rent.

Knight: Was Reuters concerned about operating in Hong Kong now that it is controlled by Beijing?

Pinder: Not really. We already have a large reporting operation in China. We have a large bureau in Beijing and a bureau in Shanghai. We are maintaining our bureau here and are in fact increasing it's size.

Knight: Singapore's been pretty tough on critical journalists. Could that potentially be a problem?

Pinder: Singapore has given us certain guarantees that they will not interfere with out handling of news from other Asian countries. this is a news processing operation. It is not covering Singapore. We have a bureau covering Singapore which will continue to be subject to Singapore laws. the Singaporeans have assured us there will be no interference with our central Asian operation. For example, our news videos which will be coming in and out of all parts of Asia, they have assured us will not be stopped, impeded, hindered or looked at.

Knight: Do you have that in writing?

Pinder: As I understand it, yeah. I haven't been directly involved. But these are hard guarantees of our independence in Singapore.

Knight: So what do you think the biggest advantages of the move will be.

Pinder: The savings which will hopefully go to reporting. But its also a very good jumping off point for southeast Asia where so much of the news continues to be happening.

Knight: Some people would say that Bangkok is a better town for news.

Pinder: Yes it was considered but only briefly, I think. The problem with Bangkok is that it's so damn difficult to get in and out of if something is happening. It's a terribly congested city. The attraction of Singapore is that its fast to get in and out of. Communications are very good and the infrastructure is excellent. It's one of the forerunners of the multi media super corridor. It's very, very advanced technologically.

[Pinder said that Reuter had also seriously considered Sydney. It fulfilled all of the above criteria and had the added attraction of a large pool of relatively low paid journalists. Sydney was ruled out because of its geographic isolation.]

Knight: Given the state of advanced communications, why base in Asia at all? Why not edit everything in London?

Pinder: I don't know whether it would be cheaper because we would have to put everyone on overnight shift. That has huge cost implications. We would lose the knowledge and interest that people have in the Asian region. Asia is important enough to have its own group of specialists and all of our people here are in some way or another specialists in Asia. They want to visit Asian countries. They travel on assignments. These central desks are reservoirs for re-inforcements on stories. They are handling Asia copy. We are in the same time zone as the rest of Asia and we are all here because we are interested in Asia. I think if you move that away to London or where-ever, you will lost that core interest which is a great benefit to the file. We have people on the desk who are a great resource for bureaux. They catch mistakes because they know the story. they are all experts in one way or another.

Alan Knight