both agencies and has a top desk rating. ln for the long haul is an old Hongkong hand, Alan Thomas, 39, who was chief correspondent here
ASIATOOMSTARGER IN THD WORTII Of REUTDRS
from 1974 to 1977.
His wife Mary spent her childhood here, her father Harold Miller having been Government quantity surveyor for many years. Replaci ng Thomson after
Christmas is a veteran Reuter overnight
Reuters men in Hongkong are
afternoon local time as Europe wakes
disadvantages of the move. "lt will cost more. lt means some duplication
now running the world wires eight hours a day. Since mid-October, all the news
up.
of
cates international news editing and
that is fit for the world to print has been going out on the Reuters service
the journalistic relay as the London subs head for the 6.32 to Orpington. Macdowall identifies a whole raft of reasons why the switch makes sense: it makes it possible almost to eliminate the anti-social overnight turn in London; it means that during those eight hours the team handling the file are running with rather than against their biological clock; and it means that at a time when the key general news markets are in Asia the world file is being edited by Asian-bæed journalists closely attuned to Asian
could present considerable problems
through the agency's newsroom in Central.
"Asia has moved centre stage in the strategic thinking of Reuters," was how one old wire service man summed up the move. ln the past, the service originated exclusively from the London headquarters of the agencY.
It
is conceivable that one day New York might run the final stage
of editorial infrastructure. lt compli-
it
of liaison.
"But I've been allowed to Pick a first-class team to reinforce the Hongkong desk. lf they can't get this operation off the ground nobody can." The expanded Reuter team has an impressive record in terms of news agency experience.
world file to business subscribers during the London overnight. But the
needs.
general news switch was much more
personally feels is of prime importance: "Having the Reuter file edited for eight hours out of every 24 inthe heart of Asia will give us a fascinating opportunity to provide a balance of
News Editor Peter Mosley. 45. cut his teeth on UPI before joining Reuters 25 years ago. Since then he has run Reuters' UK reporting bureau, covered Houston in the days of LBJ and the pioneering days of space travel and been chief correspondent in Southern Africa before coming to Hongkong two years ago. Ron Cooper, at 58, has logged 32 years with Reuters. Like Mosley he is an old UPI hand;but his speciality
world viewpoints within
has been desk
Reuters general news desk team was following in the steps pioneered
by the Hongkong economic desk in 1977 when it took over control of the
complex. lan Macdowall, who has succeeded Chicago-bound Phil Wardle as Editor Asia, Australia and New Zealand, explained: "On the econ side stories are more self-contained and tend to be wrapped up more quicklY and concisely. On the general news side stories straggle in for hours, being constantly retopped with new developments or proliferating sidebars on angles that don't rate a mention in the trunk lead but deserve their own place in the sun.
"Problems of liaison with London on the handover to and from Hongkong are complex." The transfer to Hongkong of responsibility for the world file during the Asian day means that Reuters will follow the sun in desk terms. Hongkong will set the ball rolling as the new day dawns over the international dateline and pass the buck to London in mid-
He also stresses a point which he
a single
international news service.
"Reuter reports are written by the correspondents in the countries of the First, Second and Third Worlds, not shaped to meet the preconceived ideas of deskmen sitting in London, a First World Capital. But wherever a deskman sits his judgment on selection, lengith and
priority of stories must
inevitably be conditioned to some extent by the environment in which he is working, no matter how hard he strives for total detachment - and in Reuters we strive damned hard.
"The move to Hongkong gives us a very simple means of getting nearer our unattainable ideal of perfect balance in the news
file."
Macdowall is candid about the
work in which, says Macdowall. he has no peer in Reuters. He ran the London World Desk for many years and has organised and run
whole series of major reporting events overseas including several Olympic Games. Two ex-AP hacks are in town
a
for
the launch. Old Asia hand Granville (Bob) Watts, 52. was guest-starring on the desk for a couple of months after four years in New Delhi and before taking up his new post as chief correspondent in Seoul next spring. ln for a three-month secondment and promising to play unicorn at the FCC bar to Watts' lion is Ron Thomson, 55, who has a mere seven years in Reuters compared to Watts' 12 but, like Watts. has troubleshot a lot of stories for
copytaster, Dave Goddard, 39, on his f irst overseas assignment. His main claim to fame, apart from having just about the fastest pair of typing fingers in Reuters, is that for the last few years he has been commuting to work in London from Darkest Devon. Whether he will get the BCal red eYe special
to Hongkong remains to
be
seen.
The newcomers reinforce an existing team of 10 journalists -
three London-based and seven locally engaged.
Graham Lovell, 44, whose wife Hin Cheung edits the arts magazine Orientations. is the longest-serving of the old sweats. wilh22 Years in Reuters and four in Hongkong. Ram Suresh. a 39 year-old lndian. has been here 16 months, while Cal Ebert, 42, is a mere stripling in Hongkong terms, having come out in June as a premature refugee from the moribund overnight shift in London. Two veteì'an China watchers,
H.K. Chan and T.P. Lau, have set uP an Editorial Support Unit to provide local expertise and library back-up for the desk. The other staff engaged locally are John Ngai, who goes to Taipei as a correspondent next spring, Henry Chiu, Anton Ferreira. Rick Tomkins and Marc Rouen.
Although the fifth-floor office in Gloucester Tower is straining at the seams there's half a dozen more staff to be mentioned - the six-man economic desk. Under Editor-in-Charge Mike Topliss are Graham Hillier, Rory Channing, Adrian Wright. StePhen Addison and trainee David StamP. Macdowall himself, at 51 , has been24 years in Reuters which he joined after subbing pig prices and the Parliamentary report for The Glasgow Herald - "not so very different," he says, "although the pig farmers demanded a higher degree of accuracy than the MPs." He has been news editor in Bonn and chief correspondent in Beirut and
for the past decade first chief news editor and then editor general news of Reuters World Service in London.
UIIRIll
lRlllrilllü BY BARRY BURTON The Coonawarra enjoYs the
reputation of being Australia's best red wine region. The Cabernet Sauvignon is indisputably Australia's best red wine grape. Mildara is one of the best names in the Coonawarra. Len Evans, one of Australia's leading wine judges describes recent of Mildara Cabernet Sauvignons as having "develoPed a voluminous, lush, almost Petrus-l ike structured style. rich, mouth-f illing in flavour, with a very soft easy finish." The 1978 Mildara Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon is a stylish but robust wine with a typical mintY
Ðr,
¡È Maxwell of the South Marrted recently were FCC members Søm and (Publicøtions Division) China Morning Post
vintages
mov
blackcurrant flavour. Excel lent value at $33 a bottle (360 a case). Perhaps even better is the 1979 Vintage, one of the great years for the Coonawarra, recently released and soon to be available in Hong Kong.
This wine has won six gold medals and scored equal points with the winner for the Jimmy Watson TroPhY for the best one-year-old red wine in Australia. Ring FCC member Robert McDougall at Garden City Food Services 5-782038 to get hold of some.
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Tel,5-778026