Reuters drove the agenda on the G20 summit.

Reuters was first by a whole day in getting the key statement laying out that world leaders would vow to cut budget deficits in half by 2013 while balancing that against growth needs. A Reuters correspondent got hold of the draft communiqué just as the Group of 20 leaders themselves were sitting down at a summit in Toronto to discuss it. Other media obtained the document only the following day. Reuters followed that a day later with a scoop that China won its campaign to excise language singling it out for currency flexibility. Earlier in the week, Reuters was ahead when it secured an earlier version of the draft, showing how the G20 was trying to balance the different priorities of governments in Europe and the United States – focus now on cutting deficits or on ensuring the fragile economic recovery is sustained. The Reuters team in Toronto also landed a series of high-profile interviews conducted with Reuters Insider before and during the summit including Canada’s prime minister, its central banker, Argentina’s president, the head of the OECD, the finance ministers of Germany, Britain and Brazil.