About two months ago, I wrote a post that I titled "The Wall Street Tabloid" about how Rupert Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones & Company, including The Wall Street Journal, would change this well-respected journalistic institution. I was, and still am, less than confident that Murdoch's stewardship of the paper is going to prove to be a good thing.
Well, the New York Times ran a story today about The Journal making over its popular Marketplace section. This second section of the paper will now have fewer business features on its front page, and some of the section front's recognized columns will be moved inside. The section will also focus more on hard news in the corporate world.
These changes come on the heels of an already shaken Journal staff, which has seen the following changes: reduced coverage of business features and investigative pieces; shorter stories; a focus on politics, breaking and non-business news; pages for world news; and a new sports page.
To this outside observer, these changes seem like a pretty big deal. But representatives of the company don't seem to agree. The Times piece quoted Robert Christie, a Dow Jones spokesman, who in turn quoted Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli as saying, "There are a lot of evolutionary changes going on."
I really don't think too many people would argue with the suggestion that The Journal is going to be markedly different from its old form by the time Murdoch is done molding it into the image that he feels is most appropriate. However, it remains to be seen whether his changes will be good, bad or somewhere in between, and I'm certainly not the one to judge. But no one person really is, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the tide of public opinion turns.
Monday, March 24, 2008
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