Matthew Flamm of Crain’s New York Business writes that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s plan to make The Wall Street Journal more mainstream to compete against The New York Times could backfire.
Flamm wrote, “Major news stories dominate the front page. The long, offbeat or investigative stories–formerly a page-one centerpiece–have grown scarce. Last week, Journal officials said the paper would add sports coverage and would leave downtown for News Corp.’s midtown offices.
“Die-hard readers are lamenting the changes. But the critical issue may be whether making the paper more like other ones is a good business strategy.
“‘He is going in the opposite direction from what has made the Journal distinctive and has made it perform better than the daily newspaper industry in general,’ says Ben Compaine, author of Who Owns the Media?”
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