Thomson Reuters said it would strip “diversity” from the company’s language and replace it with the word “inclusion” in order to comply with President Trump’s January executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
The company is the parent company of Reuters International News Agency, providing technical services as a contractor to the federal government.
“To ensure continuous compliance, we are clarifying some of the talent practices and languages, including renaming “inclusion and attribution” for “diversity and inclusion” and building detailed guidance to inform you of how to clarify and implement programs and practices,” the company wrote Tuesday. Email to employees Get it by New York Times media reporter Benjamin Mullin.
Trump’s two orders areEnd the radical and useless government DEI program and wish for preferences” and “End illegal discrimination and restore merit-based opportunities“We have repealed previous executive orders that outlined the policy for equal employment opportunities for the federal workforce, federal contractors and subsidy recipients.
“It is US policy to protect the civil rights of all Americans and promote individual initiatives, excellence and hard work. Therefore, we order all enforcement departments and agencies to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, delegations, programs, programs, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders and requirements.”
“I further order all agencies to enforce years of civil rights laws and combat the preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities of illegal private sector DEIs,” he added.
Since the president signed both orders in January, dozens of companies have removed DEI practices. This is what Trump describes as an “illegal” violation of the “illegal” and “civil rights law.”
Last week, Gannett, America’s largest newspaper chain, said it would remove the word “diversity” from its corporate websites and would no longer publish demographic data about the workforce.
In February, Paramount and Disney began removing languages related to DEI, following in the footsteps of tech giants like Google, Amazon and Meta.
On Wednesday, Thomson Reuters moved in a similar direction.
“As a US federal contractor, it is particularly important that Thomson Reuters continue to comply with applicable federal, state and local laws, rules, regulations and EOS,” an email from Thomson Reuters said.
“Over the past few months, cross-working teams have evaluated TR’s talent, business and commercial practices in relation to US federal government EO,” the news agency reads.
Thomson Reuters said it will continue to offer mentorship, coaching and development opportunities that will encourage employees to “striving to deepen their understanding of each other worldwide” while attracting employees from a wide talent pool.
A company spokesman did not immediately respond to Hill’s request for comment.
