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Who is FT for, compared to other premium news outlets in the United States? In the recent years I’ve been shopping around a news subscription, trying to avoid

Who is FT for, compared to other premium news outlets in the United States? In the recent years I’ve been shopping around a news subscription, trying to avoid clickbait and thought bubbles. I don’t think I understand their target audience, even after reading the entire interview.

jxf 3y ago
It's basically WSJ with a somewhat more global perspective, and Euro-centric instead of US-centric.
- Andrex 3y ago
  In my anecdotal experience, they're usually the first to scoop big Japanese business stories. (Some kind of Nikkei -> FT pipeline?) Edit- > It’s been owned by the Japanese company Nikkei, Inc. — an employee-owned company that publishes The Nikkei newspaper — since 2015. Okay that makes sense now, haha. Nikkei is employee-owned?! I need to look into this more!
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    > Nikkei is employee-owned?! I need to look into this more! It's a Kabushiki gaisha (株式会社). They aren't "employee-owned" in the progressive western sense (that's actually a "Cooperative") - it's just a joint stock company similar to McKinsey where employees can partake in limited profit sharing.
    - Andrex 3y ago
      I'd love to adopt that myself, wonder if there's any good reading in English beyond the Wikipedia article...
- walthamstow 3y ago
  And much softer, more centrist politics. WSJ is every bit a Murdoch paper
  - ghaff 3y ago
    The op-ed pages were pretty conservative even pre-Murdoch. The FT is a lot like the WSJ but, as someone else commented, more global in perspective and with a more centrist editorial angle. (Probably more in line with The Economist but maybe even more so.)
- AdamN 3y ago
  Writing quality and critical thinking are double that of WSJ though.
nescioquid 3y ago
One of the major sections on the front page is call "How to Spend It".
_dain_ 3y ago
Sir Humphrey Appleby : Didn't you read the Financial Times this morning? Sir Desmond Glazebrook : Never do. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Well, you're a banker. Surely you read the Financial Times? Sir Desmond Glazebrook : Can't understand it. Full of economic theory. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Why do you buy it? Sir Desmond Glazebrook : Oh, you know, it's part of the uniform. Took me 30 years to understand Keynes' economics. Then when I'd just cottoned on, everyone started getting hooked on these new monetarist ideas, you know, "I Want To Be Free" by Milton Shulman. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Milton Friedman. Sir Desmond Glazebrook : Why are they all called Milton? Anyway, I've only got as far as Milton Keynes. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Maynard Keynes. Sir Desmond Glazebrook : I'm sure there's a Milton Keynes. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Yes, there is, but it's... [Humphrey gives up]
- ElvisTrout 3y ago
  Such a great show. So much of it still resonates
  - jonfromsf 3y ago
    What show is this?
    - Tomte 3y ago
      "Yes, Minister!" And "Yes, Prime Minister!" And don‘t forget: Sir Humphrey : The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers' prejudices. Jim Hacker : Don't tell me about the Press. I know exactly who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country; The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country; The Times is read by the people who actually do run the country; The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country; The Financial Times is read by people who own the country; The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country; and The Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is. Sir Humphrey : Oh, and Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun? Bernard Woolley : Sun readers don't care who runs the country as long as she's got big tits.
wolverine876 3y ago
Its perspective and focus is business, and is European. That can make it a good complement to leading US news sources such as the NYT. FT is, IMHO, the most intellectually sophisticated daily newspaper in the world, ahead of the NYT. FT columnists are just about the only ones I see anywhere that have intellectual honesty and also sophistication that makes them worth reading. (In other publications, IMHO opinion columns of every political stripe are an exercise in spinning news to favor their 'constituency', and are transparently misleading to someone who is otherwise well-informed.)
gnicholas 3y ago
> trying to avoid clickbait and thought bubbles Check out Tangle — it's really good for this purpose.
pja 3y ago
People who care more about finance & economic analysis than they do about signalling political affiliation. There’s strong overlap with the WSJ in the USA I would imagine, except the WSJ is notoriously pro-Republican, whereas the FT has supported various UK parties across the political spectrum & the FT has a more internationalist focus. They also really care about their Arts with a capital A reporting. If you want a more eclectic approach to financial reporting, the FTAlphaville blog at ft.com/alphaville is free (registration signup required) & often well worth reading whether you read the main paper or not.

jxf 3y ago

It's basically WSJ with a somewhat more global perspective, and Euro-centric instead of US-centric.

Andrex 3y ago
In my anecdotal experience, they're usually the first to scoop big Japanese business stories. (Some kind of Nikkei -> FT pipeline?) Edit- > It’s been owned by the Japanese company Nikkei, Inc. — an employee-owned company that publishes The Nikkei newspaper — since 2015. Okay that makes sense now, haha. Nikkei is employee-owned?! I need to look into this more!
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- alephnerd 3y ago
  > Nikkei is employee-owned?! I need to look into this more! It's a Kabushiki gaisha (株式会社). They aren't "employee-owned" in the progressive western sense (that's actually a "Cooperative") - it's just a joint stock company similar to McKinsey where employees can partake in limited profit sharing.
  - Andrex 3y ago
    I'd love to adopt that myself, wonder if there's any good reading in English beyond the Wikipedia article...
walthamstow 3y ago
And much softer, more centrist politics. WSJ is every bit a Murdoch paper
- ghaff 3y ago
  The op-ed pages were pretty conservative even pre-Murdoch. The FT is a lot like the WSJ but, as someone else commented, more global in perspective and with a more centrist editorial angle. (Probably more in line with The Economist but maybe even more so.)
AdamN 3y ago
Writing quality and critical thinking are double that of WSJ though.

nescioquid 3y ago

One of the major sections on the front page is call "How to Spend It".

_dain_ 3y ago

Sir Humphrey Appleby : Didn't you read the Financial Times this morning? Sir Desmond Glazebrook : Never do. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Well, you're a banker. Surely you read the Financial Times? Sir Desmond Glazebrook : Can't understand it. Full of economic theory. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Why do you buy it? Sir Desmond Glazebrook : Oh, you know, it's part of the uniform. Took me 30 years to understand Keynes' economics. Then when I'd just cottoned on, everyone started getting hooked on these new monetarist ideas, you know, "I Want To Be Free" by Milton Shulman. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Milton Friedman. Sir Desmond Glazebrook : Why are they all called Milton? Anyway, I've only got as far as Milton Keynes. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Maynard Keynes. Sir Desmond Glazebrook : I'm sure there's a Milton Keynes. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Yes, there is, but it's... [Humphrey gives up]

ElvisTrout 3y ago
Such a great show. So much of it still resonates
- jonfromsf 3y ago
  What show is this?
  - Tomte 3y ago
    "Yes, Minister!" And "Yes, Prime Minister!" And don‘t forget: Sir Humphrey : The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers' prejudices. Jim Hacker : Don't tell me about the Press. I know exactly who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country; The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country; The Times is read by the people who actually do run the country; The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country; The Financial Times is read by people who own the country; The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country; and The Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is. Sir Humphrey : Oh, and Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun? Bernard Woolley : Sun readers don't care who runs the country as long as she's got big tits.

wolverine876 3y ago

Its perspective and focus is business, and is European. That can make it a good complement to leading US news sources such as the NYT. FT is, IMHO, the most intellectually sophisticated daily newspaper in the world, ahead of the NYT. FT columnists are just about the only ones I see anywhere that have intellectual honesty and also sophistication that makes them worth reading. (In other publications, IMHO opinion columns of every political stripe are an exercise in spinning news to favor their 'constituency', and are transparently misleading to someone who is otherwise well-informed.)

gnicholas 3y ago

> trying to avoid clickbait and thought bubbles Check out Tangle — it's really good for this purpose.

pja 3y ago

People who care more about finance & economic analysis than they do about signalling political affiliation. There’s strong overlap with the WSJ in the USA I would imagine, except the WSJ is notoriously pro-Republican, whereas the FT has supported various UK parties across the political spectrum & the FT has a more internationalist focus. They also really care about their Arts with a capital A reporting. If you want a more eclectic approach to financial reporting, the FTAlphaville blog at ft.com/alphaville is free (registration signup required) & often well worth reading whether you read the main paper or not.