As part of re-positioning the “new” Thomson Reuters, we saw an opportunity to continue strengthening our impact on the world through our products and partnerships while reinforcing ourselves as a true leader in integrating core social values into our business and culture, particularly in increasing access to justice and transparency.
Every day, we see headlines that are heartbreaking because the facts are unavoidable:
- 2018 has been a brutal year for journalists, and it keeps getting worse
- Human Trafficking Reaches ‘Horrific’ New Heights, Declares U.N. Report
- Global corruption growing, as democracy comes under threat
- Poor bear the brunt as global justice system fails 5.1 billion people — study
These affronts to the rule of law and freedom of the press seem omnipresent. And we know them all too well, as they often hit close to home. We rejoiced in the recent release of two of our own journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were held unjustly for more than 500 days simply for doing their jobs. The personal courage demonstrated by our colleagues is reinforced by the risks taken and commitment shown by journalists every day in order to ensure a free press, and to shine light on some of the darkest corners of the world. Our commitment to this free press is unwavering because every day we see it inform and empower people around the world.
You can download a copy of our 2018 Social Impact Report here.
These efforts stem from a belief that we share with our customers and business partners, who understand these issues and want to make an impact too. Whether it’s through TR Foundation’s pro bono work with TrustLaw or impact-focused efforts embedded in our customers’ business models, we work with them in a collective pursuit of justice and transparency. In an exciting development, we partnered last year with three of our legal customers and the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking to provide research and legal advice in developing a human trafficking hotline that will support victims and disrupt trafficking networks; in another, we recently celebrated the achievements of our female journalists and shared advice for the next generation of female reporters at the annual Women in the World Summit this past April.
To build on these efforts, we have created the Social Impact Institute (SII) to coordinate our impact activities with our core competencies and offerings, while creating opportunities for our employees and partners to advance access to justice and transparency. We also recently released our 2018 Social Impact Report, which highlights our social impact efforts from this past year and previews our goals for the coming year.
We would love to hear how you are using our products and services to support our social purpose of advancing justice and transparency. We are collecting more examples of what is happening around our business and continuing to build on ideas you might have of how our products, services, and partnerships could further advance this mission.
We look forward to building this work together.
