One of the things that disturbs me most about modern journalism is the emphasis on soft news. Not a day goes by where CNN.com or NYTimes.com or other bona fide journalism sites report on a plethora of stories involving Hollywood celebrities and their run-ins with law enforcement or health issues or other infidelities. And I could not care less. I refuse to click on stories about them. And I like Hollywood! I just think the private lives of famous people should remain, indeed, private.
One of the other things that disturbs me about modern journalism in the U.S. is the lack of reporting on the rest of the world. Just a few short years of international travel taught me that there is a gigantic world out there, very little of which revolves around what’s going on in the U.S.
The remedy to these (and other) concerns is a thin little salmon-colored newspaper daily called “Financial Times” (or as it’s known, FT). It is a newspaper published in the United States with articles written by journalists across the world (and very rarely based in the U.S.). It reports on news stories (political, social, and yes, economic) from all over the world, with an emphasis on journalistic objectivity. It really tries very hard to remain impartial, belying no bias. Most of the time it succeeds, and yes, sometimes it fails. But it keeps trying, each and every time it publishes an article.
The stories are sometimes brief (the lead today was a scant 6 paragraphs). Sometimes they are long (each front section has at least one feature article that takes up the entire page). Always they are well written and well-researched (as best a daily newspaper can, reasonably, I think).
I learn about Pakistan and Iran, sure, but I also learn about Cuba (trying to end food subsidies for its population), Mexico (trying to put an end to locally-established banks with illegal foreign ownership interest), Kenya (fighting government corruption), and many, many other countries and stories from around the world, which would never make the cut in the New York Times (our country’s best, most well-rounded newspaper, for my money).
The paper also tries to keep it real, publishing stories about fashion and the arts and movies and events which would appeal to its readers, and have nothing to do with the banking crisis or health care.
It is, in short, the perfect newspaper for me right now, and I’m thankful to have received an offer to subscribe to 6 issues a week of home delivery for $45 for 6 months (the regular rate is something like $300 for 6 months). I used to just read it when I transited airports. Now I get to enjoy it, in all its salmon glory, every week. And I’m loving it!
