FT chief: Biz news shouldn't be free

Financial Times chief executive John Ridding believes that business news and analysis should not follow the free model that many other journalism outlets are using on the Internet, reports Dominic Ponsford of the Press Gazette in London.

Ponsford wrote, “Ridding said: ‘We have always believed that quality journalism is a viable business and I think we’ve shown that this year. People will pay premium prices for premium journalism.’

“And he urged rival news organisations to be more confident in the value of what they produce. ‘A lot of media has to be more confident in the value of media,’ he said. ‘Quality journalism is a great thing and people are prepared to pay for it.

“‘The perception is that everything must be free to get scale. I don’t think it’s right and I think it’s a bit of a shame.

“‘There may be a little bit of a difference for business news and analysis – content used for making decisions about creating value. But I think it holds true more broadly than that.'”

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