Sometime’s all it takes is a change of attitude. Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, announced a bold move in the way the organization will identify itself yesterday. In an email to staff, posted in full on The Guardian, Barber has outlined a shift from a news agency to a digital platform.

Of course, this means cutting up to 35 positions and the addition of 10 new digital journalists. Before we start huffing and puffing about what “digital journalist” even means (aren’t we all digital journalists?), there are a few reasons to champion this move.

1. Specialization Makes It Easy

The Financial Times has been eyed by Bloomberg News and Thompson Reuters recently. Streamlining the organization now creates more value. While the paper has always looked pretty in pink, 25% of its revenues are now coming from digital advertising. Barber noted in his letter that they have survived the past years, 125 of them in print, by being “pioneers” in their agility to move from print to online. Their specialization in financial news and their short stories that never jump to the inside sections make it easy to to move to an all-digital platform. Anyone running a niche publication — be it music, sports, or stamp collecting — should start thinking about using digital platform to describe itself. Any new magazine or journal needs to be called a digital platform to succeed. Read more