by Michelle Edwards at UnCover DC
In its “Trust Principles,” news organization Thomson Reuters pledges its obligation and commitment to “supply unbiased and reliable news services” to the many outlets it serves. Mr. Jim Smith represents Reuters as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. He is also a Director of Pfizer, Inc., serving on the company’s Board since 2014. Known as James C. Smith at Pfizer, he is a member of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Partnering Against Corruption Initiative and the Forum’s International Business Council. Additionally, he serves on the International Advisory Boards of British American Business and the Atlantic Council.
THOMSON REUTERS CEO JAMES C. SMITH ELECTED TO PFIZER BOARD OF DIRECTORS HTTP://T.CO/ZEZKQ36IDA
— PFIZER INC. (@PFIZER_NEWS) JUNE 26, 2014
Interestingly, Thomson Reuters Corp.—a $40 billion international multimedia company—is a significant and growing force in the “fact check” world, with a fact-checking unit based in its editorial department. Partnered with Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program since February 2021, the principal aim of the unit is to “fact-check visual material and claims posted on social media.”
Notably, when announcing the launch of its fact-checking initiative to identify misinformation in partnership with Facebook, Reuters made no mention of its ties to Pfizer, the WEF, or Trusted News Initiative (TNI). Instead, when explaining its new mission, the world’s largest multimedia news provider reported its initiative was an extension of its current long and trusted history of media verification efforts. Elaborating that the fact-checking objective would occur “in the run-up to the U.S. election and beyond,” Jess April, Reuters Director of Global Partnerships, said at the time:…
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