Reuters first with news of Asian militant’s killing

When Indonesian security forces killed Noordin Top on Sept 17, the country’s most-wanted militant and the alleged mastermind of numerous suicide bombing attacks, Reuters was first with the news. Reuters was four minutes ahead of Bloomberg with an alert that police suspected Top was dead, and AP had no alert until an official news conference hours later. When the national police chief confirmed the killing later, Reuters was ahead again, this time beating Bloomberg by seven minutes. Reuters’ coverage of this milestone in a decade-long battle against Islamist militancy in Southeast Asia included comments on the likely impact on financial markets and investors’ perceptions of Indonesia, a profile of Top, a factbox on his Jemaah Islamiah militant group and a table on Indonesian risk ratings.