Writing about yourself is never easy: that’s true for the best diarists as well as the best reporters.When you are part of the story, it is both extremely difficult and absolutely necessary to keep to absolute standards of objectivity and freedom from bias.Reuters reporters and editors have this special burden now, as anyone following this story can guess.

We have always had rules about reporting on Reuters. They say, in part,

“You must take extreme care to avoid any hint of bias when reporting on the Reuters Group, ensuring that reports are factually based. We need some special rules on reporting Reuters as a company, so we are not seen as talking the companys shares up or down.

• As a rule, we do not produce initiative reporting of Reuters.
• Any story about Reuters must be marked ATTENTION EDITOR and seen by a regional specialist editor or deputy before transmission.
• Always seek comment from a company spokesman. One should always be available in London or New York.
• No story about Reuters may contain a quote from an unnamed source”

Because this story is such an important story in the market and in the media sector, Ive told our editors we should report it aggressively the only thing off bounds to them is trying to get information from Reuters officials unofficially. I have allowed an anti-trust lawyer to be quoted anonymously since it was clear the attorney was not speaking from or for Reuters itself.

Stories about Reuters can be especially complicated to report and edit because many Reuters employees including me hold stock or have stock as a regular part of our compensation.

The normal Reuters rules on avoiding conflict of interest apply and the Reuters Code of Conduct says:

• Before you report on a company in which you or your family has any kind of shareholding or other financial interest you must notify the interest to your manager or bureau chief.
• You must not deal in securities of any company, or in any other investment, about which you have reported in the previous month.
• If you are regarded as a specialist in a particular area of business or industry you must notify your manager or bureau chief of any financial interest you may have in that area or industry.

Additionally, journalists are bound by supplementary rules which say, in part:

No inside dealing
Reuters journalists must not engage in or facilitate inside dealing

Avoid conflict of interest
Reuters journalists must not buy or sell, either directly or through nominees or agents, securities about which they have written recently or about which they intend to write in the near future
To avoid loopholes, no time period is specified. The test is whether the editorial activity might continue to have an impact on the securities

No short-term trading
Reuters journalists must not take part in short-term trading of any kind. To this end, Reuters journalists must hold investments for a minimum period of thirty days (except that investments in Reuters shares acquired or disposed of through the various company schemes in place shall be governed by the rules of those schemes). Should a journalist wish to repurchase an investment he or she has just sold, a minimum period of thirty days must pass first. Any exceptions should be for family hardship reasons only and must be notified to and approved by the regional corporate counsel and regional managing editor.

We are putting this disclaimer at the foot of our stories to make the situation clear to all our readers:

(Reporters and editors involved in the writing and editing of this report may own Reuters securities and are bound by the Reuters Code of Conduct, which restricts dealing in securities in companies a journalist is reporting on.)

Reporting on yourself is never easy. But it is sometimes necessary, and it is possible to do well and ethically.

David Schlesinger is Reuters Editor-in-Chief