Leaked docs reveal how news agency Reuters secretly serves as a tool for British influence across the world

Reuters is one of the largest newswires in the world, providing untold numbers of journalists with text they can reuse. What few know is that some of that content is funded by the UK government to serve London’s global interests.

Among a tranche of secret UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) files recently leaked by hacktivist collective Anonymous are papers indicating that Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) – the international newswire namesake’s “charitable” arm – has engaged in information warfare initiatives on behalf of Whitehall.

These endeavors form part of a wider effort to demonize, destabilize, and isolate Russia, at home and abroad. At Whitehall’s direction, TRF has covertly cultivated Russian journalists, established influence networks within and outside Russia, and promoted pro-Whitehall, anti-Moscow propaganda in Russian-speaking regions.

These activities have been comprehensively exposed by journalist Max Blumenthal. TRF tenders for the projects submitted to the FCDO were signed by its CEO Monique Villa, former managing director of Reuters Media and now adviser to Thomson Reuters’ CEO,  suggesting the company itself is directly involved in the cloak-and-dagger operations of its ‘non-profit’ offshoot at the highest levels.

Moreover though, the Foundation’s submissions also reveal the insidious role it has played in furthering London’s financial, geopolitical, and ideological objectives elsewhere in the world.

For instance, one file details how TRF has “[established] news services” in “countries of interest” to the FCDO. A cited example of this activity is the creation of Aswat Masriya, an “independent” media outlet, by TRF in the wake of the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

The operation was secretly funded by the FCDO to the tune of £2 million, and run out of the newswire’s Cairo offices, which“provided payroll, human resources, and security support.”

“[Aswat Masriya] became Egypt’s leading independent local media organisation until its closure… Its content was offered for free syndication across the region,” the document boasts. “In 2016, [it] became one of the top 500 most visited websites in Egypt.”

Strikingly, the individual responsible for setting up the platform was Will Church, TRF’s ‘Head of Journalism Projects’. A leaked resume reveals he played a prominent role in the organization’s various FCDO-funded covert operations in Russia.

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