FT continues to roll

Crain’s New York Business reporter Matthew Flamm reports that the Financial Times continues to thrive despite The Wall Street Journal‘s assertion that it would “crush” its rival.

Flamm writes, “Over the past two years, the newspaper has emerged as a pioneer in the search for new business models for newspapers, building what some observers call a best-in-class digital strategy that has driven double-digit growth in online subscription and advertising revenue.

“Mr. Murdoch has indeed invested heavily in his Dow Jones property, expanding coverage to make it more of a general-interest paper. But the Journal’s proliferating political, lifestyle, culture, sports and local news pages have had the unintended consequence of helping the FT stand out.

“‘We have been determined to be specialist and niche and not to be general,’ says John Ridding, chief executive of the Financial Times. ‘And we’ve been resolutely global. The Journal has put a lot more emphasis on the U.S.'”

Read more here.