Categories: OLD Media Moves

FT to debut redesign on Monday

The Financial Times will hit newsstands Monday with its first major redesign in seven year, reports Tom McGeveran of Capital New York.

McGeveran writes, “Broadly characterizing the redesign of the paper as a ‘simplification’ in a memo to staff obtained by Capital, editor Lionel Barber nearly makes the point: ‘It shows the market that the FT is confident in its print product and prepared to invest in it while pacing ahead with digital development at the same time. The newspaper’s simplification enables us to shift our focus more into digital platforms and strike the right balance in our digital first newsroom.’

“Bundling a print newspaper with a robust digital breaking news premise is a popular format with print news organizations that reach elite audiences like the F.T. Strategists have in recent years rationalized the emphasis on breaking news in print by observing that top executives are frequently out of range of their desktop or laptop computers and that toting a print newspaper (in addition to conferring status, in some cases) allows for catching up on the news away from one’s desk. But mobile devices and the wider presence of Wifi have superannuated that idea, and the digital device is as strong a power symbol as a salmon-colored newspaper (except perhaps on New York City subways and suburban rails).

“What you can expect to see: ‘You will notice some new features such as a new typeface (Financier), a wider column measure, sharper lines – all designed to make reading of the FT more satisfying and better-suited to our quality journalism and premium brand,’ Barber writes in his memo. ‘Look out for the double-page spread on UK Companies, the sports column on Mondays and more accessible data pages that now carry charts and graphics….and much more.'”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.