Greater New York section of WSJ hits its stride

Joe Pompeo of Capital New York writes about how the Greater New York section of The Wall Street Journal is having an impact.

Pompeo writes, “At first, Greater New York was met with a yawn: high in quality and nice to look at, but not much to talk about. Four years later, the section has hardly supplanted its primary competitor. And the tabloids, which have never shared much DNA with the Journal anyway, can still run circles around most of the biggest spot-news stories in town. But with its sharp and consistent coverage of local politics, education, real estate, transportation, sports, society, culture and the arts, Greater New York has proven more of a must-read than an also-ran.

“‘It’s certainly a must-read for me,’ said local-news anchor Pat Kiernan, whose daily ‘In the Papers’ segment is perhaps the most popular feature of NY1’s morning newscast. ‘If you were inclined to pick up only one paper, and The Wall Street Journal was your paper of choice, I think you’d feel like you were well served in terms of getting a sufficient helping of local news.’

“From a business standpoint, it’s unclear how successful the venture has been. Ken Doctor, a media analyst, noted that Greater New York was primarily a print play, and that the Journal’s losses in print circulation might suggest it’s ‘not working.’ But a spokeswoman for the Journal said ‘revenue has consistently grown’ and regional advertisers like New York Presbyterian, N.Y.U. Langone Medical Center and HSBC ‘have been very supportive.'”

Read more here.