Editorial Code
Commitment
It is fundamental to our integrity and success that we uphold the highest possible standards of ethical and professional journalism, and that we are seen to do so. The benchmark for the FT’s journalistic practices is set by our FT Editorial Code. Compliance with the code is an obligation for all FT editorial staff.
Contacts
If you wish to request a clarification or correction, please email [email protected].
If you wish to make a complaint about any of our editorial content or journalistic activity, please contact [email protected].
Where any complaint under the FT Editorial Code is unable to be resolved by FT senior editors, a complainant can appeal to the Editorial Complaints Commissioner who will review the matter and direct appropriate redress.
In December 2021, the FT's Appointments and Oversight Committee appointed Christina Michalos QC as its new Editorial Complaints Commissioner.
The role of Editorial Complaints Commissioner ensures an independent means of overseeing reader complaints. The role is a regulatory one, completely independent of the editor. The Oversight Committee and the Complaints Commissioner are part of FT governance structures that embed and ensure the highest standards in journalism.
Read our guide to the policies and processes of the Complaints Commissioner here.
Complaints Commissioner
Christina Michalos KC, Complaints Commissioner
Christina Michalos KC is a leading barrister specialising in the fields of media, defamation, information and copyright law. She is the author ofThe Law of Photography & Digital Images (Sweet & Maxwell). In 2015 she was elected a bencher of Gray’s Inn and is a King’s Counsel, having taken silk in 2019.
Contact: [email protected]
Appointments and Oversight Committee
Baroness Wheatcroft (Chair)
Former journalist and businesswoman Baroness Wheatcroft graduated from the University of Birmingham with an LLB Law degree and went on to work on several national newspapers, most recently as the Editor-in-Chief at Wall Street Journal Europe. A prize winning reporter, winner of the Wincott Award for Senior Financial Journalism and London Press Club Business Journalist of the Year, Baroness Wheatcroft launched Retail Week, a specialist trade magazine in 1988, and is a former Business Editor of The Times and a former Sunday Telegraph Editor.
She is a Conservative life peer and a visiting fellow at Oxford University’s Centre for Corporate Reputation. She is also on the Board of St James’s Place plc and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and is Deputy Chairman of the British Museum.
Professor Ian Hargreaves CBE
Ian Hargreaves is Professor Emeritus at the Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Culture. He is also a board member of the BBC. Prior to his Emeritus appointment in January 2019, he was Professor of Digital Economy at Cardiff University.
Ian is a former Editor of the Independent and the New Statesman. He also served as Deputy Editor of the FT during a 15-year FT career and as Director BBC News and Current Affairs. He was a founding member of the board of Ofcom, the communications and media regulator. In 2010/11 he led a review of intellectual property issues for the coalition government led by David Cameron.
He was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2012 for services to the creative economy and higher education. He is a board member of the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff and of National Theatre Wales.
John Ridding
John Ridding is the Chief Executive Officer of the FT Group, one of the world’s leading news organisations recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy and for its global perspective.
Under his stewardship, the FT has expanded its global operations and transformed itself into a digital business, pioneering the reader-revenue or subscription model now widely adopted across news media. Despite the disruption in the news media sector, the FT has reached record levels of readership, passing the milestone one million subscriber mark earlier this year.
In his 32 years at the FT, John has held a wide range of roles on both the editorial and business side of the organisation. As a foreign correspondent, he was based in Hong Kong, Paris and Seoul and regularly reported from mainland China, Japan, India and Indonesia. He was managing editor, features editor and deputy editor before joining the business side of the organisation
Adjudicated complaints
25 September 2023, TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited. Breach, Clause 1.2
22 June 2022, Dany H. Assaf. No breach, Article 7 (2)
6 December 2021, Paul Dunn. No breach, Clause 1
9 August 2021, CFE. No breach, Clause 1
11 April 2021, Adam Levick. No breach, Clause 1
5 March 2021, Aisha Issa. No breach of Clauses 1, 12 or Articles 4.12, 7.1
31 January 2021, Bob Ward. No breach, Clause 1.2
29 April 2020, Michael Morris. No breach, Article 4.
7 February 2020, Peter Liddell. No breach, Clause 1
14 May 2019, Ryan Butta. Breach, Article 7 (2)
12 February 2019, GHK. No breach of Clauses 1 and 2
19 September 2018, Valbury Capital. Complaint partially upheld under Clause 1.2
28 April 2018, Christopher Chandler. No breach, Clause 1
10 April 2018, Mauro Libi Crestani. No breach, Clause 1. Breach, Clauses 2 and 6
15 February 2018, Paul Tierno. Breach, Article 7(2)
22 January 2018, Peter Cheung. No breach, Clause 1.1
7 December 2017, Ellie Bennett. No breach, Clause 1.1 or 1.2
31 October 2017, Alex Wessendorff. No breach, Clause 1.1 or 1.2
8 August 2017, Shaun Whatling. No breach, Clause 1.2
16 June 2017, Dr Colin Leci. No breach, Clause 1
6 August 2016, Anthony Kay. No breach, Clause 12.1
24 May 2016, Paul Stanley. No breach
14 April 2016, Jordan Jay. No breach
14 April 2016, Owen Angel and Paul Lamm. No breach
6 January 2016, Dr Colin L. Leci. No breach
29 June 2015, Robert Bartlett. No breach
29 May 2015, Jonathan Portes. Complaint partially upheld under Clause 1.2
18 June 2015, Dr Bia Labate. No breach of articles 1(2) and 1(4). Article in question here
1 March 2015, PA. No breach of Clause 3
25 February, Andrew Anderson. No breach, Clause 1
29 March 2015, Matt Berkley. No breach, Clause 1 or 1.2
Quarterly summaries