TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Eskom warns recovery from strike chaos could take weeks

      29 June 2022

      Eskom offers workers 7% increase: sources

      29 June 2022

      E-commerce is killing shopping malls – but, curiously, not in South Africa

      29 June 2022

      E.tv: ‘We know we must vacate broadband spectrum bands’

      29 June 2022

      Eskom employees returning to work

      29 June 2022
    • World

      Napster plots crypto comeback

      29 June 2022

      Pictures: Chinese spacecraft acquires images of entire planet of Mars

      29 June 2022

      Arm aims for leg-up in smartphone games with new chip tech

      29 June 2022

      Warnings of a final bitcoin ‘washout’

      29 June 2022

      Sony launches into PC gaming hardware

      29 June 2022
    • In-depth

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022

      Sheryl Sandberg’s ad empire leaves a complicated legacy

      2 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»In-depth»Cheeky app replaces the pink paper

    Cheeky app replaces the pink paper

    In-depth By Caroline Southey29 July 2013
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    FT-640

    Over the past 30 years, my relationship with the pink paper has progressed, like all good love affairs, from wild passion to mature adoration and finally to an enduring life-long commitment. I am putting pen to paper not because I am considering divorce but because I am preparing myself for imminent physical separation for only the second time since I first encountered the Financial Times in 1981.

    I am in mourning. From 26 July 2013, the FT will no longer be printed in Johannesburg. Yes, there is its very own app. It is handsome, it is user-friendly and it gives me access to every piece of news and analysis, and more, that the printed edition offers. But it’s not the same. I will miss my morning ritual of a piping hot cup of coffee and a crisp copy of the FT.

    The Saturday FT Weekend front page won’t be on my Spar supermarket shelf any more, or on the pavement outside Fournos in Dunkeld, or in stacks at the entrance to Exclusive Books, or in the hands of the newspaper vendor on the corner of 6th and 4th avenues in Parkhurst. The very thought saddens me.

    Not that it was love at first sight. My first encounter with the paper was as a rookie subeditor on the run from South Africa. This was May 1981. My shift began at 3.30pm and finished at midnight. My job was to check the weather report, which was then published on the back page. The highlight of the evening was sipping a pint of bitter in a local pub during our allotted 45-minute supper break. I would cycle back to my lover and our refuge in Fulham through deserted London streets.

    A few months later, I was running the gauntlet to full-time employment. The scales were tipped in my favour when I correctly answered the question: What is the difference between a percentage and a percentage point? I cannot recollect how or why I knew the answer but by August I was on the payroll.

    I fell in love not long after. I was promoted from the weather column to writing and editing the “News Briefing” on the front page. It sparked an adrenalin rush that would fuel my affection for decades to come. My responsibility was to identify the top 11 stories in the paper that day, summarise each in 30 words and write headlines for them. I went into work every afternoon in a state of terrified apprehension. Would my choices pass muster with the chief subeditor? Could I write all 11 flawlessly, without a single error or redundant word?

    In a sense my apprenticeship at the FT never ended: one was simply followed by another. I was never given a job without being taught how to perfect the one in hand. It was relentless, exhausting and exhilarating. Mistakes were not tolerated, so you didn’t make them. Praise was seldom forthcoming. The paper was run by Englishmen, nearly all of whom were alumni of Balliol College, Oxford. Demonstrative they weren’t. But there was palpable pride when a particularly great paper came off the hot metal presses.

    I believe the secret of the paper’s success is that it is deeply ideological without being blinded by its beliefs. The FT, which under its current editor Lionel Barber is published under the rubric “without fear and without favour”, is unapologetic in its support of capitalism. But it is not inured by the power of markets or to the damage they can do if left ­unfettered. At its core, the paper understands the interplay between economics and politics and markets. It has a sensibility that informs its coverage of powerful elites as well as corrupt political systems, seeing them as equally dangerous.

    The paper has also never been afraid to hire men and women with radically different ideological perspectives and beliefs.

    But in the end, what distinguishes the FT from other papers is the quality of its journalism. It has perfected a style of news writing that unpacks complexity and offers clarity, even when the subject matter is dense and arcane. Its opinion columns are richly diverse. Some are snortingly funny.

    It doesn’t, however, always get it right. It didn’t support sanctions against South Africa, which I still believe was a travesty. It was so overcome with excitement after the fall of communism in the Soviet Union, it failed to understand that institutional frameworks and governance structures needed to be built for any decent form of capitalism to develop.

    It came to its senses, but years after the worst damage had been done.

    At times, it has also been mesmerised by the power of financial ­markets, failing to comprehend the damage they were doing, and still do.

    And, finally, I think the FT has missed a trick in covering Africa. It remains caught in a postcolonial ­paradigm that portrays Africa as a collection of loser nations with little going for them. The truth is that Africa, just like China and many other developing countries and regions, is far more complex. The continent is rich with stories of extraordinary achievement and economic development and growth. They are just not appearing in the FT.

    But no partner is perfect, no love affair without its flaws. I will continue to consume the pink ‘un every day. But I will miss its touch.

    • Caroline Southey is speech writer for Absa group CEO Maria Ramos. She writes in her personal capacity
    • The piece was first published in the Mail & Guardian
    Caroline Southey Financial Times FT
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleSABC gambles millions on new channels
    Next Article DA alarm bells over DStv, SABC deal

    Related Posts

    The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

    22 June 2022

    Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

    19 June 2022

    Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

    13 June 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Think herding cats is tricky? Try herding a cloud

    29 June 2022

    How your business can help hybrid workers effectively

    28 June 2022

    Hands off our satellite spectrum!

    27 June 2022
    Opinion

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.