Bad news: Reuters ends arts coverage
mainArts journalism was diminished today by Reuters’ decision to let Mike Roddy go.
Mike, whose title was Lifestyle and Entertainment Editor, gave serious coverage to the serious arts, interviewing composers, writers, conductors and directors – as well as the red-carpet run of celebs and starlets.
But the agency figured it doesn’t need such luxuries any more, and they can get the celeb stuff for free.
So Mike’s off home to Ireland and Reuters has declared itself brain dead.
The move follows Bloomberg’s decision to shut down its sophisticated arts section, Muse. Reuters’ other rivals, AP and AFP, do not employ an arts specialist.
Read Mike’s recent stories here.
Ironic that you’d lament this. Today everyone is a wire service for those who follow them, hence this benefits SD.
Do you know the meaning of ‘ironic’? Or ‘humanity’? I thought not.
You circumvent the wire services and traditional publications all the time. Their editors are frightened that you will break news and reduce the punch of what Reuters or others once delivered. I am all for competition but when you yourself are a disrupter it is odd to deliver the eulogy as well.