175 years at the forefront of history
Reuters was built on the mission to bring the world to the world without fear or favour. That conviction has held for 175 years and is embedded in our Trust Principles.
From carrier pigeons bridging a gap in the European telegraph network to real-time live IP feeds serving billions of readers, Reuters has always pioneered with technology to be first with the story. Today, 2,600 journalists in 200 locations across 165 countries carry that forward, every hour of every day.
What follows is a handful of the moments that shaped that history. They are not the whole story. They are a reminder of what it means to be Reuters.
Discover key moments throughout
the history of Reuters and the world.
1851 - Reuters is established
Paul Julius Reuter opens a small office in London, as the undersea cable to Europe was about to open. He positioned Reuters where connectivity was heading, the strategy that started it all.
1854 - Crimean War
Reuters placed agents on both sides of the conflict. It was the first time a news agency reported a war from opposing perspectives.
1865 - Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination
Reuters delivered the news to Europe first, using boats, canisters and telegraph lines to beat the ship carrying the news.
1873 - First Global Financial Crisis
Reuters delivered near hour‑by‑hour intelligence on bank failures, market panic and government intervention.
1877 - Russo-Turkish War
As war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, Reuters worked through censorship and political tension to deliver critical news.
1889 - Reporting in Code in Tsarist Russia
Facing censorship, Reuters used a secret French codebook to report freely. Phrases like “sell at 38” hid news of assassinations.
1896 - First Modern Olympic Games
When the Olympic Games were revived in Athens, Reuters reported results and descriptions for global audiences. Footage from this event remains the oldest in the Reuters video archive.
1900 - Boer War
Reuters delivered its biggest scoop yet: breaking news that the besieged town of Mafeking had been relieved, two days ahead of competitors.
1901 - Death of Queen Victoria
When Queen Victoria died, Reuters carried the news across the Empire within hours, reaching audiences from Port Said to India and beyond.
1912 - The RMS Titanic Sinks
Reuters transmitted the first reports across the Atlantic to London. As information emerged, Reuters distributed increasingly detailed reports on the scale of the disaster and its human impact.
1914 - The First World War
Reuters reported the accelerating crisis as Europe moved from diplomatic tension to armed conflict. During the First World War, women joined Reuters' editorial ranks for the first time.
1923 - Great Kantō Earthquake
When a devastating earthquake struck Japan, Reuters worked to keep information flowing despite widespread disruption.
1929 - Wall Street Crash
A Reuters telegram described a “£1,000,000,000 crash” and record trading volumes, documenting one of history's defining financial stories as it unfolded.
1933 - Ian Fleming Reports from Moscow
Before creating James Bond, Ian Fleming was a Reuters reporter. In 1933 he covered a major espionage trial in Moscow, later crediting Reuters with teaching him to write fast and, above all, accurately.
1936 - “King Abdicates”
Reuters tele-typist Ellen "Bay" Harris sent a two-word message into history: "King abdicates." She later became Reuters' first woman parliamentary press gallery pass holder and helped break barriers for women in journalism.
1940 - World War and the Blitz
As bombs fell across London during the Blitz, Reuters kept reporting from its headquarters at 85 Fleet Street and a backup news centre outside the capital.
1957 - Reporting on Sputnik
Reuters beat competitors by 2 minutes reporting Sputnik 1, then by several minutes on Sputnik 2. Reuters also first revealed the spacecraft carried Laika, the first animal sent to space.
1960 - Investment in Visual News Delivery
Reuters acquired shares in the British Commonwealth International Newsfilm Agency (BCINA), marking Reuters expansion into visual news delivery at a time when television was becoming an increasingly important medium for international news distribution.
1964 - Reuters launches Stockmaster
This delivered real-time market data across Europe via transatlantic cables and transformed Reuters business, shifting from intermediaries to direct customer relationships.
1974 - Turkish Invasion of Cyprus
Reuters broke the invasion news from Ankara ahead of rival agencies. Correspondents in Ankara, Nicosia, Athens, Washington and New York combined to build what editors later described as a "beautifully organised file".
1978 - Pope John Paul II
Reuters reported ahead on the election of Karol Wojtyła. Before the conclave, Reuters did some background reporting from Warsaw on Cardinal Karol Wojtyła "just in case". When he emerged as Pope John Paul II, Reuters was ready with a fuller picture of the first non-Italian pope in over four centuries.
1981 - Iranian Hostage Crisis
Reuters Tehran Bureau provided distinctive news beat of the 52 American hostages' departure from Iran after 444 days. Throughout 14 months, Reuters maintained bureau presence after US agencies were expelled.
1990 - Liberia's civil war
Reuters journalists in Monrovia documented Liberia’s civil war at real personal risk, using a portable satellite transmitter to file reports and photographs from the field when few other ways out existed.
1998 - Digital Photos at the World Cup
Reuters changed sports photojournalism forever by deploying wireless LAN technology, with images delivered from stadiums to clients in under 8 minutes.
2003 - Sadam’s Fall
Reuters photographers captured the fall of the 20-foot statue of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad's Firdos Square. The photograph became one of the defining images of the Iraq War, symbolizing the end of Saddam Hussein's regime.
2008 - Financial Crisis
Reuters documented staff in a meeting room at Lehman Brothers' on the day the investment bank filed for bankruptcy. The image became the iconic visual representation of the 2008 financial crisis.
2012 - The launch of the Digital News Report
The Reuters Institute launched the Digital News Report, tracking how digital media is reshaping news consumption across multiple countries. The report has been published
every year since.
2022 - Ukraine War
Reuters was first to report that Vladimir Putin had authorized a "special military operation" against Ukraine. The report marked the beginning of Europe's largest military conflict since World War II.
2026 - Phil Noble's picture of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
Reuters photographer Phil Noble captured the widely circulated image of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor leaving a Norfolk police station in February 2026, after hours of waiting, a tip and a little luck.
