TalkMonday 20 June 2016
6:00pm – 7:00pm
How has the Financial Times influenced Japanese journalism?
Drinks reception from 7:00pm
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
The unexpected purchase of the Financial Times Group last year by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun surprised everyone both in Japan and in the UK. It is unprecedented for a major Japanese newspaper to purchase a highly regarded Western newspaper.
Nikkei hopes to learn from the FT’s successful digital strategy and also to expand its readers globally. Nikkei and other major Japanese newspapers are suffering from a declining number of readers and are struggling to transition from a paper-oriented business to a digital-oriented one. Following this move from Nikkei, the Asahi Shimbun is also keen to push its digital agenda and the Mainichi Shimbun now has a partnership contract with theWall Street Journal.
Japanese newspaper journalists are sometimes said to be too polite and respectful of authorities. Will theNikkei/FT alliance spark a fundamental change in Japanese journalism?
Ginko Kobayashi published her book The Real Power of the Financial Times 「フィナンシャル・タイムズの実力」 in January 2016, detailing the drama of this extraordinary purchase, the characteristics of the British media, the present and the past of the FT, the FT’s digital strategy and the future of this Nikkei/FT partnership. For this event, Kobayashi will be joined by distinguished financial columnist and FT journalist John Plender, to discuss the impact of the FT on Japanese journalism.
Download event audio hereAbout the contributors
Ginko Kobayashi
Ginko Kobayashi is a London-based Japanese freelance journalist. After graduating from Seijo University, Tokyo, Kobayashi first worked in financial institutions and moved on to journalism in early 1990s as a reporter/business editor at the English language edition of The Daily Yomiuri (nowThe Japan News) until 2002. She now writes for various Japanese media outlets about journalism and politics. Kobayashi’s books include The Power of the Financial Times (Yosensha, 2016) and A History of the British Media (Chuo Koronshinsha, 2011). She also co-translated Boris Johnson’s book Churchill Factor (President, 2016).
John Plender
John Plender is a financial commentator, journalist and expert on corporate governance. After taking his degree at Oxford University, he joined Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths & Co in the City of London in 1967, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1970. He then moved into journalism and became financial editor ofThe Economist in 1974, where he remained until joining the UK Foreign Office policy planning staff in 1980. On leaving the Foreign Office, he became a senior editorial writer and columnist at the Financial Times, an assignment he combined until the late 1990s with current affairs broadcasting for the BBC and Channel Four. His latest book is Capitalism: Money, Morals and Markets (Biteback Publishing).