The Financial Times launched FT Edit, its app that offers access to a daily selection of eight articles for a fraction of the normal subscription, in the United States. The product, which aims to attract new readers who can’t afford a (relatively expensive) full subscription, was first launched in the UK early last year.

FT recruited Caryn Wilson, formerly an editor at The New York Times, to lead FT Edit in the United States. The product is free for the first month, then rising to $0.99 monthly for six months and to $4.99 per month after that.

As media analyst Brian Morrissey notes, “[FT Edit’s] expansion to the US is a sign that it has seen success”. The model offers readers a finite product that can be read from start to finish, as opposed to social media. “The purpose of FT Edit is to provide an alternative to endless scrolling, allowing readers time to digest eight important stories selected for them each day”, the company said in the announcement.

Mass protests erupted in Georgia this week over a controversial “foreign agent” bill that could, among other issues, worsen media freedom in the country. The bill, which critics say had been modelled on the infamous Russian law targeting alleged “foreign agents”, was passed in the parliament on Tuesday thanks to the support of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Multiple Georgia’s independent media outlets and press freedom watchdogs renounced the bill. “This decision follows an ongoing assault on the media and civil society, with instances ranging from targeted physical violence to smear campaigns”, Mariam Gogosashvili, executive director of the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics, told the International Press Institute.

Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili supported protesters and said she would veto the bill; the bill was eventually recalled by the Georgian Dream party in the wake of the backlash.

Reach, one of the UK’s largest newspaper publishers that operates outlets like the Daily Express and Daily Mirror, posted its yearly results for 2022, showing a decrease in revenue and profit year-on-year driven by rising newsprint costs in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as by an advertising market downturn.

The company brought £601.4 million (€675 million) in revenue in the past year, a 2.3% decrease compared to 2021. Profit fell by 27.4% to £106.1 million (€119.1 million). The company says it expects growth in 2023 “from expansion of audience and data-led engagement.”

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