The owner of trade and specialist publications such as Farmers Weekly and New Scientist has come under fire for several years for its involvement in five defence shows, including one in London.

Today it announced it was severing ties with the arms industry after complaints from opponents that included academics writing for Reed's scientific titles.
"Our defence shows are quality businesses which have performed well in recent years," said chief executive Sir Crispin Davis.
"Nonetheless, it has become increasingly clear that growing numbers of important customers and authors have very real concerns about our involvement in the defence exhibitions business.

"We have listened closely to these concerns and this has led us to conclude that the defence shows are no longer compatible with Reed Elsevier's position as a leading publisher of scientific, medical, legal and business content."
Earlier this year, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust sold its £2m stake in Reed because of concerns the publishing firm was stepping up its involvement in arms fairs despite the charity's three-year campaign to make Reed break ties to the trade.
Describing the trade as "deeply unethical and irredeemably corrupt", the trust slammed the arms fairs organised by Reed subsidiaries, which include Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEi), held every two years in London and organised in association with the UK Ministry of Defence.
FTSE 100-listed Reed said today that defence shows accounted for less than 1% of group annual turnover. It hopes to pull out of the sector by the end of the year, subject to honouring its obligations to partners and customers.


It had previously maintained it viewed the defence industry as "necessary to the preservation of freedom and national security" and that its exhibitions assisted in ensuring there is a licensed, regulated and open market.

(Guardian: 01/06/07)