Chaitanya Kalbag, Reuters, Managing Editor, Head of Editorial Operations, Asia

NOV. 5, 2005: The head of editorial operations in Asia for Reuters captivated a crowd of nearly 40 journalism professionals and students from Columbia University Thursday evening in an intimate conversation that touched on prospering Asian markets, technology advancements, Reuters Asia and an upbeat analysis of journalism. The event, held at Reuters US headquarters in Times Square, was sponsored by SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association.

Chaitanya Kalbag discussed the enormous potential in Asia, including two of the world’s largest growth markets, India and China. He said technology has continued to develop in Korea, Japan, and China, and at Reuters, where the markets of consumer television, news content on mobile phones, podcasting and citizen journalism are expanding.

With further developments in technology, Kalbag said Reuters will continue to concentrate on financial product and news that adheres to the company’s standards of accuracy, speed and freedom from bias. Those standards are often challenged in Asia where the world’s major news events and overarching economic picture continue
to unfold, he said.

Complexity of stories only places a higher demand on professional journalists trained in schools and Reuters graduate programs, Kalbag said. There is demand in Reuters for journalists with language skills in Mandarin, Thai, Korean, and Japanese, and
opportunities for those who speak English in Singapore, Hong Kong,
the Philippines, India, Australia and elsewhere.

In spite of the cyclical nature of journalism and current naysayers, Kalbag finished by saying that as long as there is a need to tell a story in an objective and truthful way, journalists will serve an important function. He invited journalism students to consider
Reuters in their career plans, and offered to accept clip packages.

CHAITANYA KALBAG BIO
Managing Editor, Head of Editorial Operations, Asia
Chaitanya Kalbag joined Reuters in 1983 as a correspondent in New Delhi, India. He moved to Manila in 1987 and in 1988 became a Chief Sub-editor on the Hong Kong economic desk. In 1991 he moved to Tokyo and in 1993 he was appointed Editor, News Production, Japan. His next post as Editor, News Production Asia was based in Hong Kong. There he was responsible for the quality of all text news output from Asia including output from all editing desks.

In 1997 he became Bureau Chief, India where he was responsible for all text, television and pictures coverage from India, Nepal and Bhutan. He then became Managing Director, Reuters India Limited and Manager South Asia, based in Mumbai. In this role he was the senior Reuters company official for all eight South Asian countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

He took on his current role in July 2000 and heads all text, television and pictures news operations in Asia. He is also responsible for the recruitment, safety and security, and career development of nearly 600 journalists in 33 bureaus in 22 countries stretching from Afghanistan to New Zealand. Prior to joining Reuters, he worked in Bombay for a small Indian newspaper, then went on to edit and produce Transindia, a monthly newsmagazine for Indians living in the United States. He moved to New Delhi in 1978, and held senior writing positions at two magazinesNew Delhi and India Today. He won the Rajika Kripalani Young Journalist Award in 1977, the Sanskriti Award for Journalism for 1982, and the India Today-PUCL Human Rights Reporting Award in 1983. He was included in An Anthology of Bombay Poetry, 1977.