Can local papers become global industry websites?
For some reason, the headline “Why journalists deserve low pay” caught my attention (via Roy Greenslade) and I have read the essay on the topic by Robert Picard.
I think his analysis that the economic value of general news content has diminished because local papers no longer have a distribution monopoly is correct. However, I am not sure about his solution – that such papers should reconfigure themselves as digital providers of specialist information. Read more
Score one for shareholders’ rights in the US
The financial crisis has at least had one good effect, finally pushing over the top the right of US shareholders to nominate directors to company boards. I am not sure whether that is strictly logical, since there has not been a broad failure of corporate governance – just one on Wall Street – but so be it.
Since I hail from a country where shareholders have more explicit rights than in the US, I have always found the US system of corporate governance hard to grasp. In particular, the notion that investors need either to sue or to mount a public battle to displace directors in order to be heard strikes me as odd. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
John Gapper is an associate editor and the chief business commentator of the FT.
He has worked for the FT since 1987, covering labour relations, banking and the media. He is co-author, with Nicholas Denton, of 'All That Glitters', an account of the collapse of Barings in 1995.
Andrew Hill is an associate editor and the management editor of the FT. He is a former City editor, financial editor, comment and analysis editor, New York bureau chief, foreign news editor and correspondent in Brussels and Milan.
Latest columns by John and Andrew