London / Vienna. December 10, 2021
by Edward Steen
As a long-ago troublemaker (diarist) at the FT, it is good to see that my young successors at the paper are enjoying a handsome pay-rise
for their excellent work for the owners, since 2015, the Nikkei company. This is in stark contrast to the swathe of job-cuts (62 in all) imposed after it emerged that former editor Lionel Barber had been paid almost £2m in 2019. It may also reflect the hand of the paper’s first female editor, former foreign correspondent Roula Khalaf, one of several new women editors in Fleet Street.
The news comes from the recently-revamped UK Press Gazette, whose infusion of funds has given it a new lease of life. Its report on the latest journalism prizes awarded in London also suggests a much more international approach, and a good understanding of the lethal threats journalists can face, and why their work matters.
Exiled Afghan press award winner Zahra Joya, founder of Rukshana Media (above) said: “We don’t simply do journalism these days, we are also covering the loss of our own rights, of our own freedoms.”
Links:
♦ Anniversary of Declaration of Human Rights today
♦ Reporters sans Frontières Index
♦ Is it possible to build trust in Internet news? Interview