The parent of The Financial Times isn’t worried about what Rupert Murdoch will do to change The Wall Street Journal, arguing that its American rival will remain just that — an American newspaper, writes Tim Luckhurst of the Sunday Independent in London.
Luckhurst wrote, “AÂ Pearson spokesman is dismissive. Pointing to evidence that many WSJ readers are appalled to see the title under News Corp control, he explains: ‘It has taken the FT many years to change from being a UK paper to a global business newspaper. We are not complacent, but we think our strategy remains good. The FT will be a worthy competitor for the WSJ. We now sell more copies in the United States than we do in Britain. More than half of our advertising runs in all four editions.’
“Pearson claims that the WSJ remains a predominantly American title, which has focused in recent years on consolidating its domestic dominance. The spokesman says: ‘A world audience of opinion formers is hard to build, but enormously valuable. To win that market we set out our vision of putting business and political news in a global context several years ago. That is why we are making big profits and we are confident about the future.’ Pearson claims the WSJ has a long way to go to match the FT’s global prestige as a flagship title for international opinion formers.
“It is fighting talk, but while the FT’s reputation remains potent, Press Gazette’s Mr Ponsford warns: ‘Mr Murdoch will soak up losses for years to beat off competition. The FT can’t do that. It has to deliver to Pearson’s bottom line.'”
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