UK: Lionel Barber ushering FT into new age

Posted by Rory Satran on October 25, 2006 at 10:12 AM

As the first anniversary of his appointment approaches, the Financial Times’ editor Lionel Barber is confident in the essentiality of his paper. Eight months into his tenure Barber introduced a new integrated newsroom that resulted in 50 layoffs. The editor maintains that the actions were necessary to bring FT into the digital era.

Barber explains the “new newsroom” to the Independent:

Many journalists are now expected to be at their desks at 7am. Says Barber: "Everybody in the news business today is having to think differently. You have to be more flexible, to work different patterns to the ones we've become used to, the 10.30am to 7.30pm shift say."
The paper is moving toward a 24/7, direct-response model. When the recent Thai coup went down, Barber was able to post two background stories online instantaneously, which generated a considerable amount of web traffic to the FT site.
A number of FT executives were residents at South Carolina new media think-tank IFRA. According to Barber, they returned with contagious excitement about web ventures: "Suddenly we have production editors who have spent all their life in print and they've suddenly woken up to the wonders of the web. It has given them a whole set of new skills.”
The most recent addition to the “new newsroom” is the Alphaville financial news service, which includes a 6am informational email, among other features.

When asked about his current mindset, Barber stressed that he was “very focused.”

Source: Independent

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