The FT and its future under Nikkei

John Cassidy of The New Yorker explores the sale of the Financial Times to Nikkei and its decision to drop its paywall.

Cassidy writes, “Of course, to attract a paying readership, you have to differentiate yourself from the competition and provide something readers value. The F.T.’s edge, Ridding said, is its global perspective. Although it is clearly a niche product, that niche—affluent, globally minded business readers—is growing, and not just in the developing world. Ridding cited the United States as a market with ‘good opportunity for growth.’ With the backing of its new owner, the paper is planning further investments in customer acquisition and retention, in Web-site functionality, and in areas like video and audio. (No, Ridding didn’t mention hiring more journalists: the F.T. currently employs more than six hundred of them.)

“With my time almost up, I asked Ridding if he believed that the existential threat to serious journalism had now passed. ‘Well, I never believed in the existential threat to journalism,’ he said. ‘I believed in some major challenges to the business model that supported journalism. But we were very confident—it was almost an instinctive belief within the F.T.—that quality journalism has a value, and that there is a business model … if you have the confidence to charge for it. Remember, when we did start charging online, we were regarded as sort of freakish, particularly in the U.S., particularly on the West Coast of the U.S. But we fundamentally believed that if it’s quality journalism, people will pay for it. That’s been vindicated.'”

Read more here.