First with authoritative report on death Tamil Tigers leader

The final days of Sri Lanka’s 25-year war with the Tamil Tigers were a fog of propaganda, rumour and speculation, thickened by the fact that the battlezone was off-limits to journalists. And yet, Reuters was the first international news organisation to authoritatively report on May 18 that the rebels’ leader, Prabakharan, had been killed, quoting Sri Lanka’s army commander and beating Bloomberg by more than two minutes with a piece of news investors were waiting for. Prabhakaran’s survival was cited by investors as a major risk to post-war stability, given the almost mythical power he held over his followers. Reuters was also alone with a news flash on the Sri Lankan president declaring the country totally liberated from the Tamil Tigers, the military declaring combat operations over and the army’s seizure of the entire island’s coast for the first time in 25 years