The nay-sayers have spent years attacking Pearson in general and its ceo, Marjorie Scardino, in particular for the performance of the Financial Times and the FT.com website. Surely today's news, showing a leap in profits and an increase in sales will silence the doom-mongers?
What has been striking about the Financial Times has been its editorial department's willingness to innovate and its management's determination to back those innovations. I recall speaking at an Edinburgh book festival event a couple of years ago when a member of the audience, quoting the "widespread rumours" of the time, suggested that Pearson was about to sell the FT. By coincidence, and unknown to us panellists, there was a senior FT executive also in the audience. He stood up to say that there was "no question" of a sale. But the false rumours continued.
Throughout my career I've noted how Fleet Street, supposed purveyor of the truth to the masses, cannot even tell the truth about its own business.
