WSJ 2 years after Murdoch: 'Newsier, less analytical,' 'increasingly successful,' or both?

Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on December 14, 2009 at 12:43 PM

Rupert Murdoch bought Dow Jones & Co. and its flagship newspaper the Wall Street Journal two years ago on Sunday in a US$5.16 billion takeover bid, which ended more than 100 years of ownership by the Bancroft family. At the time, Murdoch stood atop four boxes of copy paper to reassure journalists that their "tremendous values" would be preserved under new ownership. "If anything, you will find us trying to set a higher bar."

Since then, Murdoch has considered making the WSJ's Web site free, and did lift some pay barriers, but ended up sticking to its pay wall, continuing its reign as a top example of a newspaper making money from paid online content. The WSJ has also taken some cost cutting measures, such as closing bureaux, as well as launching new money-makers, such as a new specialty product to provide subscribers more specialised news in niche areas.

Photo: The Associated Press

Murdoch also moved the WSJ from its headquarters in Manhattan's financial district to midtown. "As the physical situation has become more News Corpy, so, in subtle ways, has the coverage," the New York Observer stated today.

The New York Times made similar observations. David Carr yesterday wrote that today's WSJ is "newsier, less analytical." He wrote that "under Mr. Murdoch's leadership, the newspaper is no longer anchored by those deep dives into boardrooms of American business with quaint stippled portraits, opting instead for a much broader template of breaking general interest news articles with a particular interest in politics and big splashy photos."

This morning, Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones, fired back, stating that Carr's editorial column "is yet more evidence that The New York Times is uncomfortable about the rise of an increasingly successful rival while its own circulation and credibility are in retreat."

Politico's Ben Smith noted today that Carr's column may have reignited the old rivalry between the two papers, and the response from Thomson "confirms Carr's thesis about the paper's rapid transformation along the Murdoch model."

But this renewed competition (with the WSJ's New York section, created to compete with The Times), may also be part of Murdoch's plan for the future.