Financial Times cake
The editor of the Financial Times has shared "the next steps" in its move to a digital-first news operation in a memo which was today published online, including a focus online on "smart aggregation of content from our own journalists and third parties".

In the memo, Lionel Barber told FT journalists that the new approaches will prompt "changes in work practices, a further shift of resources to ft.com and a significant reshaping of the newspaper", including the introduction of "a single edition, global print product" next year.

"The new FT will be redesigned and updated to reflect modern tastes and reading habits," he said, adding that it will take its cue from the website, as opposed to the other way around....MORE
MediaBriefing has quite a lot on the business side:
...Cost management, part 172

Barber points out that FT has "100,000 more digital subscriptions than sales". The FT had more than 600,000 subscribers in H1 2013, half of which are digital.

Single copy sales are however shrinking fast, with 230,000 global sales but only 41,000 full-price daily sales in the UK in August (it's about 100,000 on Saturdays). Here's global circulation decline this year, from ABC:
FT ABC decline 2013
But despite digital subscription success, the paper announced voluntary redundancies in February and today Barber heavily hints at more cost cutting to come:
...As we move into the next phase of digital first, colleagues need to make informed choices about their careers at the FT and where opportunities lie.
No major news organisation has yet found the right answer to question of how do you take a legacy costbase into a digital age.

But there is an even bigger picture. Revenue, the only metric that really matters, was flat in H1 2013 and newsroom structure and cost management can't affect that.

-- The FT's investment in data analytics to track and understand its audience
-- Its purchase of and investment in cutting edge mobile technology products and teams
-- Its marketing operation that sells and renews subscriptions using data and evidence
-- AND its focus on original content are the things that will grow FT Group as a business.
...MORE