Being a TV person, I’m curious about the cost structure of print newspaper operations. Over at the Monday Note, Frédéric Filloux writes:
In a typical operation, the biggest costs are industrial ones: around 25%-35% for paper and printing; another 30%-40% for distribution; around 18–25% for editorial; the remaining 10–15% are for administrative and marketing expenditures. Continue reading
About twenty years ago, I went to a farewell dinner for a young man who was leaving the UK to head for Korea. As a news action junkie, I was baffled. The Soviet Empire was in crisis. The Middle East in turmoil. And this guy was going to Seoul for the Financial Times?
Still, gnawing away was the suspicion that maybe he knew something the rest of us didn’t. That lingering suspicion from twenty years ago was probably right.
John Ridding is now the FT’s CEO and here’s his take on what ‘market meltdown’ has done for the paper brand (as told to Robert MacMillan at Reuters):
“What [the crisis] is doing for our readership and audience is pretty remarkable. I think it really underlines this idea that at a time of turmoil, people really do need trusted guides, and are prepared to pay.”