Financial Times

Overall Score Corrections Ownership Staff Policies Reporting Policies Interactivity 2.8

Ranking: Good. Details of Findings: There is a corrections page. A link to it is located in the left column, under the “comment and analysis” menu. It is the last item in the menu. The page gives a list of links to specific corrections. Upon clicking a link, there is a short description of the correction and a link to the original article. Information about ownership is accessible but difficult to find. An “About the FT” link is on the site map, under the FT Human Resources section. The link to the site map is in a toolbar near the bottom of the home page. Financial Times Group is owned by Pearson plc, which is chaired by Glen Moreno since October 2005. It gives a history of Pearson and a link to more information about Pearson. There is no information about how the FT deals with conflicts of interest. The code of ethics is found under a link to “code of practice.” This is on the site map, under the FT Human Resources section. It takes two clicks to get there. A link from the FT Human Resources section, two clicks from the home page, says: Financial Times Group aims “to provide a broad range of business information and services to the growing audience of internationally minded business people.” They also associate the words authority, integrity and accuracy to its reputation and offer extensive news, comment and analysis. The specific goals of FT.com are to provide an agenda setting editorials with relevant financial data and discussion groups. No ombudsman or any similar position could be located on the web site. The web site has an entire section dedicated to letters to the editor. Letters are posted and there are links to each one. Email addresses are not provided for specific reporters but they are for columnists. The email address is listed on each columnist’s personal page that contains their articles and a brief bio. There are several blogs, but it does not say if they are written by reporters. In the Technology section of the site, there was an extensive Tech Blog with various contributors. In the comment & analysis section of the site there are debatesthat are hosted by the web site. This allows for user input on issues but not necessarily reporter input. There is a page where readers can “ask the expert” by sending in questions. Readers cannot directly comment on an article but again there are other outlets for reader opinion and feedback like the letters to the editor and debate section located under the Comment & analysis portion of the site. (Danielle Hayner and Mark Leff)

About The Financial Times

Circulation/Audience • 425,000 Global (2006)
Online Access • Some articles are free, but most require a log in and online subscription to read
Parent Company • The Financial Times Group http://www.pearson.com/index.cfm?pageid=25 which is an associated company of Pearson PLC http://www.pearson.com/
Other Relevant Ownership and Interests •
Les Eches http://www.lesechos.fr/
Expansion http://www.expansion.com/
FT Deutschland http://ftd.de/
FTSE International http://www.ftse.com/
Vedomosti http://www.vedomosti.ru/
50% stake in The Economist Group http://www.economist.com/
50% stakes in South Africa’s The Weekender http://www.businessday.co.za/weekender/weekender.aspx?Page=BD4P145080 and Financial Mail http://free.financialmail.co.za/
Parent Company Revenue • $875.4 million