Examination of Witnesses (Questions 620
- 624)
WEDNESDAY 10 OCTOBER 2007
Mr Lionel Barber
Q620 Baroness Eccles of Moulton:
Can I ask, because what you say is very interesting, do you have
any system within the newspaper—which sounds, from the way
you describe it, as though it has very great pride in its own
standards—of training or mentoring when you take journalists
in, no matter where they come from?
Mr Barber: Absolutely.
Q621 Baroness Eccles of Moulton:
There is a sort of critical friendly eye on what they do?
Mr Barber: We have the normal editors who are
looking at prose and copy and if it is not up to standard we deal
with these problems, but we have a system where we are monitoring
the performance of our journalists and we have regular training
sessions, which are in very specific detail about how to read
a company's balance sheet and how to report on business. These
are conducted by specialists, but very experienced people from
within the paper.
Q622 Baroness Eccles of Moulton:
What about how to write a sentence?
Mr Barber: We hope the schools contribute a
little bit.
Q623 Baroness Eccles of Moulton:
Quite. My point, Mr Barber, is you seem to be implying that it
is at that level that there may be a compromise with quality because
what you are getting actually is not quite of the high standard
you would hope for. I am asking you, do you attempt to correct
that?
Mr Barber: Absolutely, all the time, every day.
You should read my emails!
Q624 Chairman:
Mr Barber, thank you very, very much indeed. A very interesting
portrait of the FT. Perhaps if we have got some other questions
which arise from this we could write to you?
Mr Barber: My Lord Chairman, thank you. It has
been a pleasure. I hope I have been helpful
Chairman: Very much. Thank you.
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