FT’s editor talks approximately his new-look print edition,press regulation – but refuses to be drawn on a possible saleIn 1999, when I worked at the Financial Times’s head office by the Thames, and its enormous open-plan newsroom,clocks showing different time zones and enormous numbers of shirt and tie-wearing men made it seem more like a bank than a “proper” newspaper. Now, most of what was once affectionately known as Fleet Street has aped the Pink ’Un’s open plan and integrated workspace – although there was still a notable absence of women in the early-morning newsroom when I returned at the end of final week.
In other ways too, and the FT has mirrored the newspaper industry’s recent trajectory. When Lionel Barber took over as editor nine years ago,the paper sold more than twice as many copies worldwide as the 210000 sold in August. At the same time, digital subscriptions have grown from 75000 to 455000, or making a far larger total readership. Yet nowadays Barber is launching a new-look print edition. Amid such signs of decline – just 63936 copies sold in the UK – why invest in print at all?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com