Financial Newspapers - Top 3 Reviewed

The Financial Times, or FT, is of course the dominant presence in both printed and online European financial news. A historic and traditional bastion of that global financial hub, the City of London, it has rapidly evolved and globalized with the credit and financial services boom. Its unparalleled reach has even seen it take on the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in the critical U.S.market and establish a German language edition in Europe's mightiest economy. This ability to challenge incumbents and continue catering to the sophisticated tastes of an increasingly homogeneous global financial elite makes it a maker as well as a breaker of news.

The famous pink pages of the FT remain in their traditional two-part division between the main political and economic news section and the "Companies and Markets" section which focuses on corporate results and capital markets developments. Many people working in business apparently go straight for the second section. Being more interested in politics, I prefer the first.

The Lex column, famous for its insight on topical subjects, remains as pithy, authoritative and Delphic as ever. Some of its magisterial, even cryptic, weight has perhaps been diluted by a recent tendency to add a background information box that explains the issue being opined on. Beyond the back-page, there is a growing emphasis on star writers and op-ed gurus. My favourite is the historian Niall Ferguson, a Jesus College don who later emigrated to Stern and Harvard as well as the board of a hedge fund. His articles are often perspicacious and insightful, although he is best seen as a speaker in person.There are also numerous celebrity columnists, such as the economist Martin Wolf whose opinions are lucid but often controversial. He takes on all-comers in the "Wolf Exchange" which is the economists' equivalent of an on-line boxing ring.

Lucy Kellaway has carved out a unique niche in exposing the foibles and ironies of modern British office life. While I personally find the Martin Lukes saga rather tedious, some of her columns are truly witty. Every time she skewers (predominantly American) success gurus or management books with her biting comments, millions must smile. UK political coverage is provided by Philip Stephens. Many years ago I even purchased Politics and the Pound, although as with all these worthy tomes I failed to read it. I have emailed him in the past and he has responded promptly and with courtesy, so I continue to be a loyal reader.

Financial news is of course one of the few corners of the internet where people are prepared to pay on line for high quality and premium content, as the Wall Street Journal has shown. Heavy online investment has paid off in the plethora of ancillary blogs that the FT offers - my favourites being FT Alphaville, which tends to display Bloomberg screen grabs with off-the-cuff comments and commentary. The FT technology blog is also suitably Delphic with regards to future internet trends. 

It is astonishing how little the global financial meltdown seems to have impacted the editorial tone and content of the FT, which many view as a cheerleader of the Blair credit boom. There is little fundamental questioning of the "Washington consensus" and the reflationary efforts of the world's central banks.

The crisis has certainly given capital markets editor Gillian Tett a permanent platform at securitization conferences, as she pointed out some of the excesses in sub-prime and CDOs before the storm broke. The FT has a difficult balancing act in its coverage of these sectors, as many market practitioners will prefer more specialist news sources. The long tail of niche providers - someone, somewhere is probably aching for coverage of Estonian covered bonds - will have to cater for these readers.

The FT's attempts to diversify into lifestyle and "weekend" supplements are in my view less wise. There is clearly a tiny clique of Wallpaper-reading, achingly hip (and rich) urbanites who love this stuff but I fear it leads many readers cold.The "How to Spend It" supplements,which feature a wide range of extremely expensive and superfluous designer products unaffordable to 90% of the population, are in particularly poor taste as unemployment rates hits 10%-20% in most Western economies. Having said that, everyone can enjoy the "Fast Lane" column of Tyler Brule, who is one of the most innovative, outrageous and downright insightful writers around. His campaign to improve London Heathrow airport has become a national institution.

The FT has established leadership in the UK "premium pay" model. Rupert Murdoch's decision to charge for online access to the London Times and Sunday Times is of course being closely watched to see if the subscriber model can be extended to a wider news diet. Of course the difficulty for would-be premium chargers in the UK is the excellent BBC news service provided free at point of use and funded by the compulsory licence fee.

Some of the BBC's financial reporters such as Robert Peston and Evan Davis have become celebrities in their own right. There is also the outstanding free content offered by the Guardian, which has transformed itself from provincial Manchester stalwart to a progressive bastion as the "world's leading liberal voice". Comrades, fear not - it has no current plans to charge for its online services.

Disclaimer: Other than as a reader, I have no connection whatsoever with any of the media or newspapers described here. All views are purely personal and readers should form their own judgements.