Global opportunities for FT in economic crisis, says deputy editor

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The current economic crisis will create new growth opportunities for the Financial Times for reporting and readership, the title's deputy editor has said.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk ahead of the launch of the FT 'The Future of Capitalism' series , Martin Dickson said the global nature of the crisis would create links between the paper and new readers in the US, Europe and Asia.

The paper's network of international correspondents and their access to senior financial and political figures has helped the FT to better report on the full scale of the crisis, he added.

"While we sell a lot of copies around the world there's still a huge potential market out there for us to go for. We sell a lot in America, Europe and less in Asia - but that's still growing. Potentially we could reach a lot of readers as people in those regions think more globally - they want a more global newspaper and online source of information," he said.

"Coming out of the recession the world economy is going to come back at some point and keep on growing, the potential for us during the crisis to gain new readers and afterwards is immense."

The launch of the series is part of the FT's ongoing remit to explain to readers clearly and accurately what is happening in the economy, said Dickson.

Alongside articles from FT journalists in print and online, the series will feature contributions from global economic figures and commentators, including former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and Tony Blair.

FT.com will feature video roundtables on the debate, and audio and interactive features - including a guide to the influential players emerging in the seach for a route out of the crisis.

"What we are seeing is some sort of turning point for the world economy and our thinking about how economic systems work," explained Dickson.

"The banking system has widely failed and that's a hugely shocking thing for the way we think of how the world is organised. We felt that the new year was a great time to step back and look at the flaws of capitalism and how it's currently organised. Can we think about what might emerge out of that? That's what we're trying address in this series."

Reflecting on the recent Treasury committee hearing on the media's role in the UK banking crisis, Dickson said criticism of financial journalists was unfair.

"There's a natural tendency for people to blame the messenger and I don't think that's fair at all. What has caused a lot of criticisms and controversy has all proved to be accurate. We're just doing our job," he said.