Andrew Gowers, who preceded Lionel Barber as editor in chief of the Financial Times, writes about why Barber was a success.
Gowers writes, “He had a good run as FT head honcho — certainly much better than my briefer one that went before. He strengthened the pink ’un’s journalism and authority after wobbly times following the end of the dot-com boom. He advanced its international reputation — notably in the US — while maintaining its slightly challenged niche in the UK. Over time he charted a winning course for the FT as a digital news organisation with more than one million paying subscribers online and in print. The scoops (exposing massive fraud at Germany’s Wirecard to name the best) and must-read interviews (Putin’s attack on the idea of liberal democracy) with which he marked his last year or two werea fitting coda.
