Examination of Witnesses (Questions 552
- 559)
WEDNESDAY 10 OCTOBER 2007
Mr Lionel Barber
Q552 Chairman:
Mr Barber, thank you very much indeed for coming. I think you
know roughly what we are doing, that is to basically enquire into
media ownership and the news, what the impact of concentration
of media ownership is on the balance of diverse opinions seen
in the news but, also, at the same time, obviously, to get a good
idea about what is happening and how news has changed, how news
gathering is changing itself, so it is a wide brief. Therefore,
can I begin by asking you this. Tell us about the present ownership
of the Financial Times
Mr Barber: It is owned by Pearson plc, a diversified
group which is specialist in businesses and education. It also
owns the Penguin Group.
Q553 Chairman:
You are a subsidiary of Pearson?
Mr Barber: Yes.
Q554 Chairman:
Does that mean that the Chief Executive of Pearson has influence
on your editorial position?
Mr Barber: No, it does not. Pearson owns the
Financial Times and it sets financial budgets in co-operation
with the senior FT management, of which I am a member,
I sit on the board of the FT, but in terms of editorial
independence. I am in a very lucky position, we are independent.
Q555 Chairman:
How is that independence preserved? Is it written down that you
are independent or is it just a matter of practice?
Mr Barber: It is a matter of practice and tradition.
Q556 Chairman:
How would you take your own decisions because, as the editor,
this seems to give you a vast amount of power? How do you take
your decisions on who to back in an election, what view to take
on the Iraq War and what your view is on the European Union?
Mr Barber: My Lord Chairman, as I am sure you
are well aware, the best decisions are often taken in concert
with informed colleagues and that is the way I run the FT.
I have an excellent deputy who I appointed when I was selected
as editor nearly two years ago. I happened to work for him when
I joined the FT 22 years ago. It might interest you to
know that I have spent 22 years at the Financial Times.
I have worked for other newspapers, but 16 of those years have
been overseas, 10 years in America, six years in Brussels. I bring
a certain experience, not just from Britain but also the outside
world, but I take decisions in conjunction with the senior team.
That would be the deputy editor, the managing editor, who is responsible
for budgets and personnel, and the news editor, so I am not an
autocrat.
Q557 Chairman:
How were you appointed?
Mr Barber: I was appointed by Marjorie Scardino,
the Chief Executive of Pearson, after consultation with members
of the Pearson board, as I understand it, and the then CEO of
the Financial Times.
Q558 Chairman:
Was there a great shortlist or was this an internal appointment?
What was the process?
Mr Barber: I am not aware of a shortlist. It
was an internal process. They knew who I was and they considered
me qualified to do this job.
Q559 Chairman:
We have seen today the Daily Mirror and The Mail
on Sunday, you are in a particular area, I was going to say
specialist, but you are in a very particular area, who do you
regard as your competition?
Mr Barber: I think you have hit on a very important
point, my Lord Chairman, we are indeed a niche publication. You
must look at us in a slightly different light compared with the
tabloids certainly, but also with the other main papers. We are
a business newspaper and that brings certain responsibilities.
People who read the Financial Times read it because they
either want to make money or they want to avoid losing money.
There is another very important difference between the Financial
Times and any other publication in the UK and that is we are
a global newspaper. We do not rely just on the circulation in
the UK, while the UK is important, 70% of the circulation of the
Financial Times comes from overseas and that has been a
distinct strategy pursued over many years, but particularly over
the last 10 years where we have launched a separate edition in
the US and where we have also a Asian edition. To wrap up, 70%
of our circulation comes from overseas and 50% of advertising
by value comes from overseas too, so our competition is global.
Chairman: I will bring in the
Bishop of Manchester on circulation, if I may.
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